Collagen, melting temperature

Figure 3. Melting temperature versus quenching temperature for gels. The collagen melting temperature in dilute solutions is also quoted.

Fig. 168. The collagen melting temperature in salt-free solution with pH 3.7 vs total imino acid content per 1000 residues (O) vertebrates ( ) invertebrates constructed after data presented in [430]...

Inouye, K., Kobayashi, Y., Kyogoku, Y., Kishida, Y., Sakakibara, S., and Prockop, D. J. (1982). Synthesis and physical properties of (Hydroxyproline-Proline-Glycine)10 Hydroxyproline in the X-position decreases the melting temperature of the collagen triple helix. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 219, 198-203. 

Fia. 16. Melting temperature plotted as a function of composition for collagen-ethylene glycol mixtures. Solid curve is calculated on the basis of a normal polymer melting relation (see Flory, 1953). (From Flory and Garrett, 1968. Reproduced with kind permission of the American Chemical Society.)... 

Flory (1956a,b) considered the shrinkage of collagen in terms of statistical mechanics and concluded that thermal shrinkage is a phase transition similar to melting. The elevation of the melting temperature with increasing cross-link density was treated theoretically. 

Fig. 3. The melting temperature plotted as a function of volume fraction of collagen for collagen-ethyleneglycol mixtures. The solid line is calculated from theory (after Flory and Garrett, Ref. 6).

Table II. Melting Temperature in Physiological Saline (°C) of the Collagen of...

The role of carbohydrates in collagen structure is still controversial. The hydroxyproline residues in collagen are required for stabilization of the triple helix by hydrogen bond formation. In the absence of vitamin C (scurvy), the melting temperature of collagen can drop from 42°C to 24°C, because of the loss of interstrand hydrogen bond formation from the lack of hydroxyproline residues. 

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