Half of the body's weight is matrix - skin, bone, tendon, and cartilage - while the other half is made up of collagen. Kadler and his team used advanced volumetric electron microscopy technology to view fibrils in the matrix of mice. The collagen was viewed with mass spectrometry. They found that when body clock genes were out of balance, both the thick and thin fibrils amalgamated randomly. Kadler explained, "Collagen provides the body with structure and is our most abundant protein, ensuring the integrity, elasticity, and strength of the body's connective tissue." He continued, "It’s intuitive to think our matrix should be worn down by wear and tear, but it isn't and now we know why; our body clock makes an element which is sacrificial and can be replenished, protecting the permanent parts of the matrix.”
Kadler is hoping that his findings will provide some insight into how wounds heal, or how we age.
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