Changes in the nature of the collagen during development and resorption of granulatin tissue

Presence of type III collagen in guinea-pig dermal scar

Guinea-pig dermal scar was shown to contain type III collagen, and, from densitometric analysis of gel electrophoretograms, it was shown to have a higher concentration than the surrounding dermis. This finding is consistent with the 'embryonic' nature of newly formed dermal wound tissue, reflected in increased hydroxylation of collagen lysine and the presence of dihydroxylysinonorleucine (after reduction) as the major cross-link.

Collagen in granulation tissues

Collagen is abundantly synthesized in granulation tissues and reaches a concentration higher than in normal neighbouring tissues. Such newly formed collagen is characterized by an abnormally low solubility and an easy degradation by collagenases and collagenolytic cathepsins. The activities of these two types of enzymes are high (especially collagenases) in tissues of acute inflammations when the granuloma is resorbing. These activities are lower in sub-acute inflammation and the collagen content of the persistent granuloma remains high. The collagen synthesized in granulation tissues is cross linked by hydroxylysino-5-keto-norleucine, the stable cross-link of collagen in embryonic skin. It is progressively replaced by the two aldimine cross links of normal adult skin when the granuloma is resorbed (acute inflammations induced in rats; human normal scars). The cross link of embryonic skin, on the contrary, is permanently present in collagen of tissues of subacute, chronic inflammations (sponge implants in rats, human hypertrophic scars and keloids. Studies of the structure of alpha-chains revealed that type III collagen (embryonic collagen) is present in granulation tissues.

Collagen development in granulation tissue as compared with collagen of skin and aorta from injured and non-injured rats

Granulation tissue in rats was produced by subcutaneous implantation of viscose cellulose sponges. Granulomas, aortae, and skin samples were taken 4, 8, 14, 22, 33, and 42 days after the sponge implantation and compared with age-matched non-operated rats. 14C-proline was given 4 hours before death to animals killed on day 0, 14, and 42. The 14C-OH-proline activity in salt insoluble collagen was higher in granulation tissue and aorta than in skin. This indicates a faster formation, or an increased stability of the intermolecular cross-links in granulation tissue and aorta, than in skin. The percentage of free OH-proline was than in skin, reflecting a relatively increased collagen degradation in granulation tissue. An increased collagen degradation may also, in part, explain a registered higher alpha/beta ratio in collagen from granulation tissue than from skin, as well as the increase in alpha/beta ratio in the older granulomas. The sponge implantation did not affect the collagen of aorta and skin, but caused a decrease in the dry weight of aorta and skin, and an increase in the number of granulocytes in the blood.

Characterization of the collagen of human hypertrophic and normal scars

The collagen produced in response to an injury of human skin is initially stabilized by a cross-link derived from hydroxyallysine, and characteristic of embryonic skin. In normal healing there is a change over with time to the cross-link derived from allysine, which is typical of young skin collagen. In contrast, hypertrophic scars fail to follow the time-related changes of normal skin, but retain the characteristics of embryonic collagen, indicating a continued rapid turnover of the collagen. This is further supported by the high proportion of the embryonic Type III collagen present in hypertrophic scars.