The Biochemistry Behind Collagen Synthesis In The Human Body

It’s not as simple as just consuming a collagen supplement. The synthesis process on its own is already of high complexity!

We do know of collagen as this structural protein in our body. It’s a protein that supports the physical structure of our skin and our joints. We can even find it in our bones. It even seals off the atherosclerotic plaques that are prevalent in heart disease patients.

Collagen is a protein like any other protein in the body. There are many different types of amino acids in the body, and a combination of them will result in the synthesis of a protein molecule. Specific combinations yield specific types of proteins, and collagen is no exception to that.

There are multiple types of collagen present in our body, each having their own part to play in how the body functions.

But what we have are 3 dominant amino acids in the structure of collagen — glycine, proline and lysine. The genetic coding for collagen synthesis is encoded into the DNA of fibroblast cells for these cells to produce collagen accordingly — and of course, as we age, the production efficiency and the quantity of collagen being produced decreases. As we age, too, the rate of coly.lagen destruction actually increases too, so we’re actually facing a double whamm

While glycine and proline aren’t that necessarily reactive, lysine contains an additional amino (-NH2) group that the lysyl oxidase enzyme targets and converts into an aldehyde. Two aldehyde groups on neighbouring collagen protein strands can react with each other in an aldol condensation reaction, which then results in the cross-linking of these collagen protein strands.

Even though these 3 amino acids are the major constitutents, the collagen protein does contain all the other naturally occurring amino acids in its structure, and Vitamin C is necessary for facilitating the synthesis of collagen itself.