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Role of Copper in Collagen Cross-linking and Its Influence on Selected Mechanical Properties of Chick Bone and Tendon¹

William Opsahl^*, Haig Zeronian, Mike Ellison, Davis Lewis, Robert B. Rucker^*,2 and Richard S. Riggins^,2

^* Departments of Nutrition Departments of Textile Science College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Orthopeadic Surgery, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, 95616

Day-old White Leghorn cockerels were fed skim-milk-based diets containing 0, 2, 4, 8, or 16 ppm added copper as CuSO₄ for 21 days. Lysyl oxidase was extracted from bone and tendon. The recovery of activity from the extracts was linearly correlated with dietary copper (r > 0.90). Tests of the mechanical properties of tendon and bone indicated that tendon viscoelasticity (as measured by stress-relaxation) may not be significantly influenced by copper, whereas the ultimate torsional strength of bone is markedly decreased when the dietary copper level is below 1 ppm. Furthermore the torsional fracture characteristics of bone from copper-deficient birds demonstrated a lack of plastic deformation prior to failure that was normally seen in bone from control birds. The change in the mechanical properties of bone from copper-deficient birds appeared to be related to a decrease in the amounts of dihydroxylysinonorleucine and other lysine-derived cross-linking amino acids in bone collagen. The data indicate that the requirement for optimal growth of chicks fed skim-milk-based diets is 6–8 ppm copper, however, the requirement for normal cross-link formation in bone is less than 2 ppm copper.

KEY WORDS: • copper • cross-linking amino acids • biomechanics • bone collagen • tendon collagen

¹ Supported in part by USPHS grants PHS AM 26965 and HL 15965.

² Correspondence should be directed to R. S. Riggins, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322 or R. B. Rucker, Department of Nutrition, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616.

Manuscript received 18 September 1981.

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