Collagen degradation in rat skin but not in intestine during rapid growth: effect on collagen types I and III from skin.

Metabolic degradation of prelabeled collagen in whole body skin and whole intestine was compared to that of types I and III collagens from skin in young, rapidly growing rats. Pregnant rats were given [3H]proline during the last week of gestation; and after birth, littermates were compared. Between the second and sixth weeks of age, there was a 43% loss of radioactivity from dermal collagen but no significant loss of radioactivity from intestinal collagen. Pepsin treatment solubilized 90% of the dermal collagen but only 12% of intestinal collagen. Skin from 2- and 6-week-old rats yielded the same proportions of type I and type III collagens (type I, 82%; type III, 18%). The relative losses of total radioactivity from types I and III were similar to each other (50 and 44%, respectively) and to the loss from whole skin. Because types I and III collagens are known to be present in both skin and intestine, the marked degradation of both collagen types in skin but not in the intestine may be related to the amount and kind of intermolecular crosslinks present.