Twisted fibrils are a structural principle in the assembly of interstitial collagens, chordae tendineae included.

X-ray diffraction analysis of connective tissue samples, which contain type I and type III collagen shows that twisted collagen fibrils are a general principle of assembly. The occurrence of twisted fibrils in native wet Chordae tendineae, skin and Aorta is combined with a shorter axial periodicity of about 65 nm. This shorter D period is shown to be directly related to the tilt of the molecules, which have to be curved to build-up twisted fibrils.