Preparation and partial characterization of collagen from paper nautilus (Argonauta argo, Linnaeus) outer skin

To make more effective use of limited-resources. collagen was prepared from the outer skin of the paper nautilus. As a result. the outer skin was hardly solubilized in 0.5 M acetic acid (yield: about 5.2% on a dry weight basis). The insoluble matter was easily digested by 10% pepsin (w/v), and a large amount of collagen was obtained with about a 50.0% yield (pepsin-solubilized collagen). The pepsin-solubilized collagen had a chain composition of alpha1 alpha2 alpha3 heterotrimer similar to Callistoctopus arakawai arm collagen. Although the paper nautilus collagen has a denaturation temperature of 27 C. that is about 10 degreesC lower than that of the porcine one, this result indicates that it is possible to use the paper nautilus outer skin as an important collagen source. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.