Digestion of native collagen in the gut

Abstract

The digestion and absorption of collagen, native and artifically cross linked, has been examined in the rat and the Gaboon viper, by feeding known quantities and measuring the hydroxyproline content of the feces and of the contents of the gut at different levels, and comparing with an unabsorbable marker (polyethylene glycol). Incubation of collagen in vitro with pepsin at 37°C at pH 1.5 followed by trypsin or chymotrypsin converted about 40% into dialysable material.