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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Increased solubility of skin collagen

Dental Research Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.

We studied the solubility of skin collagen from six patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and six controls. The amount of collagen extracted with neutral salt solution was significantly greater in patients with ALS than in controls. In addition, there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of collagen extracted from ALS patients with increased duration of illness. The collagen solubilized by pepsin and cyanogen bromide treatments was significantly higher in ALS patients than in controls, and its proportion was positively and significantly associated with duration of illness in ALS patients. These results indicate that the metabolism of skin collagen may be affected in the disease process of ALS, causing an increase in immature soluble collagen in the tissue, which is the opposite to that which occurs in the normal aging process.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Mitsuo Yamauchi, CB# 7455, Dental Research Center, Dental Research Center Building, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7455.

Supported in part by NIH grants DE 08522, DE 00233, DE 08611, AR 19969, and AR 30587, and NASA grant NAG-2-181.

Received October 10, 1991. Accepted for publication in final form January 21, 1992.

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