Kinetics of collagen denaturation in mammalian lens capsules studied by differential scanning calorimetry

Miles CA · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Establishes that collagen denaturation is a rate, not a threshold: at 47.4 C the number of native collagen molecules fell by a factor of ten in 21.4 plus or minus 2.9 minutes. Temperature and time trade against each other, which is why asking what temperature collagen denatures at has no single answer and why a long low simmer is not obviously gentler than a short hot one.

Population

Mammalian lens capsules (no live subjects)

Intervention

Differential scanning calorimetry of collagen denaturation kinetics

Limitations

Lens capsule basement-membrane collagen, not the fibrillar type I of bone and skin or the type II of cartilage. Physical chemistry with no food or biological endpoint.