Collagen Involvement in Health, Disease, and Medicine

Abstract

This chapter discusses the physiologic, metabolic, and clinical aspects of collagen, including the role of nutritional factors in a new nosographic entity, called “extended collagen carential disease.” Except water and possibly fats, carbohydrates, and other structural proteins, perhaps there is more collagen in the mammalian body than anything else. Moreover, collagen participates in almost all of the body functions, adjusting its structure constantly in response to changes in environment, development, growth, and external clues. Collagens found in bones and nails are different from collagens found in body fluids and other biological structures, such as basement membrane, skin, tendons, muscles, and hair. The ubiquity of collagen functions accounts for its phylogenetic ubiquity, involving any tissue, organ, and apparatus. This is shown by the so-called “collagen carential disease,” involving nails, hair, osteoarticular and gastrointestinal systems. For instance, the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome describes another group of genetic collagen disorders, affecting the collagen processing and structure. Some of them are inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, while others emerge in the absence of essential nutritional factors. It is the case of Vitamin C, which plays a critical role in the maintenance of a normal mature collagen network. Hence, the idea of an “extended collagen carential disease,” applicable to the absence of essential nutritional factors.