Collagen fibrillogenesis: intermediate aggregates and suprafibrillar order.

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Abstract
Polymerization of collagen [fetal calf skin, rat tail tendon, lathyritic chick tendon and skin, wallaby tail tendon and guinea pig skin] in vitro was studied with EM at early time points of fibril assembly. Morphologically distinct stages of aggregation were found, which may represent successive steps in fibril formation. Linear growth of the fibril appears to occur by the tandem addition of aggregates to each other and subsequently to the ends of a subfibril; lateral growth occurs by the entwining, like a rope, of these subfibrils. Fibrillongenesis is also accompanied by extensive development of suprafibrillar order in which various patterns of parallel, spiral and orthogonal sets of fibrils were frequently observed.