Pyridinoline, a mature collagen cross-link, in fibrotic livers from Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice.

The amount of pyridinoline, a cross-linking amino acid found in mature collagen, was measured in murine liver for a period of up to 40 weeks following Schistosoma mansoni infection. The pyridinoline level (expressed as pmol per 100 micrograms of liver) markedly increased in the course of murine schistosomiasis, and the number of pyridinoline residues per collagen molecule was also higher in the livers of infected mice than that of control livers. This increase in the extent of intermolecular collagen cross-linking might play a role in the modulation of collagen catabolism as an auxiliary mechanism of extracellular matrix accumulation during fibrogenesis.