Supramolecular assembly of collagen fibrils into collagen fiber in fish scales of red seabream, Pagrus major

Supramolecular assembly of collagen fibrils into collagen fiber and its distribution in fish scales of red seabream, Pagrus major, were investigated. By virtue of Zernike phase-contrast hard X-ray microscopy, it has been firstly observed that collagen fiber consists of helical substructures of collagen fibrils wrapped with incrustation. As it close to the scalar focus (that is, with aging), loosened- and deteriorated-helical assemblies started to be observed with loosing wrapping incrustation, indicative of the distortion of the basic helical assembly. Various distributions and packing arrangements of collagen fibers were observed dependent on subdivisions of fish scale. Freshly growing edge region of fish scale, embedded into fish skin, showed rarely patched and one directionally arranged collagen fibers, in which specifically triple helical assemblies of collagen fibrils were found. On the contrary, relatively aged region of the rostral field close to the scalar focus displayed randomly directed and densely packed collagen fibers, in which loosened- and deteriorated-helical assemblies of collagen fibrils were mostly found. Our results have demonstrated that hard X-ray microscope can be a powerful tool to study in situ internal structure of biological specimens in an atmospheric pressure.