[Collagen metabolism of skeletal muscles following injuries of the peripheral nerves].
In order to elucidate the mechanisms of fibrosis and atrophy of skeletal muscles after peripheral nerve injuries, the biochemical changes in collagen from gastrocunemius muscles of adult albino rabbits have been analyzed after denervation of the proximal portion of sciatic nerve. The wet weight of gastrocunemii was found to decrease at the end of the second week after denervation, and the total collagen content in the muscles progressively increased throughout the whole observation period of 12 weeks. In contrast, the amount of connectin, an intracellular elastic protein was found to decrease after denervation. The amounts of total soluble collagen, pepsin-released collagen and the reducible cross-links were remarkably increased with the passage of time after denervation. The total glycosylated hydroxylysine, especially glucosylgalactosylhydroxylysine contents of the collagen were found to decrease after denervation. These findings strongly indicate that the progressive fibrosis of skeletal muscles after peripheral nerve injury may be mostly produced by the enhanced formation of immatured collagen fibers in tissues, rather than the decrease in the amount of structural muscle proteins as discussed before.
D000818:Animals; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D009121:Muscle Denervation; D009132:Muscles / Q000294:innervation / Q000378:metabolism*; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000209:etiology; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries; D011817:Rabbits; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000293:injuries; D013997:Time Factors
D003094:Collagen