Time-dependent changes of collagen crosslinks in the socket after tooth extraction in rabbits

Time-dependent changes of the reducible collagen crosslinks in the healing tissue of rabbit tooth extraction wounds were analyzed chromatographically. The ratio of dihydroxylysinonorleucine to hydroxylysinonorleucine in the collagen from normal alveolar bone was 4.4. This value increased about four times, on the 10th day after tooth extraction, coinciding with the phase of active woven bone formation, and then decreased rapidly toward a normal value on the 14th day after tooth extraction. The data suggest that active biosynthesis and fibrillogenesis of bone collagen precede the morphological completion of lamellar bone formation.