Cuticular “cell membrane complex‘ modification of wool fabrics by sulphite treatment in aqueous organic solvent media

Cuticle modification on knitted wool fabrics treated with sodium sulphite in an isopropanol water medium has been studied. Isolation of the cuticle and its components, as well as amino acid composition determinations after acid and enzymatic hydrolysis from untreated and treated wool, indicate only slight modification. However, from the amino acid composition of the lipoproteic material dissolved during the treatment and from transmission electron microscopic observations, a modification of the ft-layer in the cuticle-cuticle ‘cell membrane complex’ has been clearly observed.