Polyethylene Glycol as a Preservative for Pigskin and Its Interaction with Collagen

Herein, an immersing method for the pigskin preservation byusing polyethylene glycol (PEG) with different molecular weights(MW = 200, 600, 6000) was developed and the influence of PEG onthe conformation of type I collagen was investigated. OnlyPEG200 followed dehydration and rehydration patterns similar tothat of salt curing and exhibits reasonably good preservative andbloodstains removal effects. Zeta potential analyses show that thecollagen-PEG solutions have good dispersions stability. FT-IR andUS-DSC results indicate that collagen triple helixes are keptintegrated in the presence of PEG, and the highly hydrated featureof PEG helps to maintain the stability of the protein conformation.Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) images show that the collagenfibrils become more dispersed with the increasing MW of PEG. Thepresent work gives positive insight to partially replacing sodiumchloride for the preservation of raw hide and skin, as well as thedevelopment of PEG-collagen biomaterials.