ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NATIVE PLACENTAL BASEMENT-MEMBRANE COLLAGEN AND ITS COMPONENT ALPHA CHAINS

Native type IV collagen was isolated from human placenta using pepsin solubilisation followed by fractional salt precipitation and chromatographic purification. The native preparation was characterised using amino acid analyses, disc gel electrophoresis, segment‐long‐spacing crystallites and immunological methods. Two component α chains were isolated with molecular weights of approximately 95000 and 70000. Cyanogen bromide digests of these chains indicated that they are not related to any of the known α chains of interstitial collagens or to the recently described collagen containing αA and αB chains. They are also not related to one another and are therefore probably fragments of two genetically distinct type IV collagen α chains. Copyright © 1979, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved