A complex of collagenase with low molecular weight inhibitors in the culture medium of embryonic chick skin explants.

Collagenase inhibitors with molecular weights of about 6,000 and 12,000 were isolated from latent chick skin collagenase treated with 3 M NaI and from the culture medium of embryonic skin explants. It is suggested that these inhibitors, which are possibly derived from connective tissue macromolecule metabolites, are candidates for regulating factors of collagenase activity in vivo.