Biosynthesis of skin collagens in normal and diabetic mice

Synthesis of collagens in vitro was studied on minced mouse skins incubated with [3H]-proline in organ-culture conditions. A comparative study was carried out on genetically diabetic mice (KK strain) and control mice (Swiss strain). After incubation, neutral-salt-soluble and acid-soluble collagens were extracted. The insoluble dermis was digested by pepsin and type I and type III collagens separated by differential precipitation in neutral salt solutions. Type I and Type III collagens were characterized by ion-exchange and molecular-sieve chromatography, amino acid analysis and by the characterization of CNBr peptides. In diabetic-mouse skin, the relative proportion of type III collagen was significantly higher than in control-mouse skin. The incorporation of radioactively labelled proline into hydroxyproline of type III collagen was significantly faster in diabetic-mouse skin than in control-mouse skin. No significant modifications in the total collagen content of the skin or of their rates of synthesis were observed between the two strains. Alteration in the ratio of type III to type I collagen in the diabetic-mouse skin can be interpreted as a sign of alteration of the regulation of collagen biosynthesis and may be related to the structural alterations observed in the diabetic intercellular matrix.