Influence of monosaccharides on the fibrillogenesis of type I collagen.

The in vitro self-assembly of Type I rat tail tendon collagen in the presence of monosaccharides was studied turbidimetrically. D(+)glucose and D(+)mannose delayed fibril formation significantly while D(-)fructose showed no variation. The effect of glucose was concentration dependent. Binding of glucose during fibrillogenesis was shown by the incorporation of [14C]glucose and also by SDS-polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis of the product. The results indicate that in vitro nonenzymatic glycosylation can take place in the short duration required for fibril formation.