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Electron microscope studies on collagen

I. Native collagen fibrils

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Summary

The present paper describes an electron microscope investigation of the ultrastructure of native collagen fibrils with negative and positive staining techniques.

After negative staining with phosphotungstic acid (PTA) the subfilaments composing the fibrils were well discernible and had a diameter of 15–30 Å. The period of the collagen fibrils in these specimens had a length of about 700 Å and consisted of alternating regions of high and low density (as estimated by accessibility to PTA). The dense regions (here called A-regions) were identified with the bands as defined in earlier studies based on positive staining.

An attempt is made to correlate the electron microscopic observations with X-ray diffraction data on native collagen fibrils. Patterson vectors from X-ray intensity data on collagen are tentatively identified with definite spacings in the negative staining picture of collagen fibrils.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anatomical Institute, University of Oslo, Norway

    Björn Reino Olsen

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  1. Björn Reino Olsen
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Additional information

This study was supported by grant B-2215 from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, Public Health Service, USA. This aid is gratefully acknowledged.

The author was supported by a Student research fellowship from the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities.

I am indebted to Mrs. J. L. Vaaland, Mr. B. V. Johansen and Mr. E. Risnes for technical assistence. Particular thanks are due to Prosector T. W. Blackstad, M. D., for his continued support and great interest in the work and for his kind assistence in preparing the manuscript.

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Olsen, B.R. Electron microscope studies on collagen. Z. Zellforsch. 59, 184–198 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00320444

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00320444

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