Isolation and characterisation of collagens from the skin of largefin longbarbel catfish (Mystus macropterus)

Acid-soluble collagen (ASC) and pepsin-soluble collagen (PSC) were extracted from the skin of largefin longbarbel catfish (Mystus macropterus) with yields of 16.8% and 28.0%, respectively, on the basis of dry weight. Both ASC and PSC contained α1 and α2 chains and the amino acid composition of collagen was close to that of calf skin type ? collagen. The intrinsic viscosities of ASC and PSC were 14.9 dl/g and 14.5 dl/g, respectively. Similar ultraviolet and FTIR spectra of ASC and PSC were observed. However, peptide maps of ASC and PSC, hydrolysed by trypsin, revealed some differences in primary structures between the two fractions. Denaturation temperatures of ASC and PSC were 32.1 °C and 31.6 °C, respectively. The higher T_m showed that it is possible to use largefin longbarbel catfish skin collagen as an alternative source of vertebrate collagens for industrial purposes.