Collagenase Digestion of Ageing Skeletal Muscle

RAs from 3 young cadavers (40-, 44-, and 45-year-old men; “young RAs”) and 3 old cadavers (82- and 90-year-old men and an 81-year-old woman; “old RAs”) were selected for comparison. Paraffin sections were dewaxed with xylene, soaked in distilled water, and submerged into a solution of phosphate-buffered saline containing 0.5 mM of calcium chloride (pH 7.4) and 250 units/mL type III collagenase (Worthington, Lakewood, NJ, USA) at 37°C for 1.5 h or for 3h [16 (link)]. The collagenase used has substrate specificity to collagens with lower proteolytic activity than other collagenases. Digested sections were first washed with distilled water before being observed with SAM. The same sections were measured 1.5 h and 3 h after digestion.