The presence of type III collagen in the developing tooth

Type I and type III collagens have been isolated from dental papilla and dental pulp of bovine tissues by enzymic digestion with pepsin and differential salt precipitation. Type III collagen was further purified by molecular sieve and ion-exchange chromatography. The relative proportions of type III and type I collagens were estimated by two different techniques, gel electrophoresis in the presence of mercaptoethanol, and direct estimation of the alpha1(III)CB3 peptide. Both techniques gave similar values. Type III collagen constituted 24% of papilla and 28% of pulp collagen by the first procedure, and 20% and 31% by the second. 18% of dental follicle collagen was type III.