ABSTRACT
This investigation focused on the sustainable valorization of red-bellied pacu (RBP) skin towards finding an alternative to bovine and porcine collagen. Acid-soluble collagen (ASC, 45.8 ± 0.7%) and pepsin soluble collagen (PSC, 57.8 ± 1.9%) were successfully extracted from RBP skin and comparatively elucidated their characteristics and in-vitro fibril-forming potential. The extracted collagens were characterized as type I collagen and confirmed the well-preserved triple-helical configuration by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy analysis. Both ASC and PSC exhibited relatively better thermo-stability, and the denaturation temperatures were found to be 35.5–35.29 °C by differential scanning calorimetry analysis. Both collagens displayed higher (p ≤ 0.05) solubility at low NaCl concentrations. The extracted ASC and PSC showed the same degree of fibril-forming capacities and confirmed well-defined fibril morphologies. Overall, the results showed the possibilities of effectively exploring RBP skin as a potential alternative source for realistic and safe collagen for food, nutrition, pharmaceutical, and other applications.
Acknowledgments
LCJ thanks the University Grants Commission (UGC), Govt. of India, New Delhi for the award of a Research Fellowship.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).