Isolation of Collagen from Sailfin Sandfish Skins as By-product for Use in Some Industrial Purposes

The objective of this study was to isolate and characterize collagen from sailfin sandfish skins as an useful resource for potential in commercial applications. The fats and pigments of the skins could easily be removed by cold acetone treatment. High-purity, pure-white, and odorless collagen, with a chain composition of α1α2α3, was successfully obtained with high-yield approximately 31.0 % on dry skin’s weight basis. Denaturation temperature was relatively high, approximately 30 °C as well as that of bovine Achilles tendon collagen, although sailfin sandfish lived in the Japan Sea where the water temperature was low. ATR-FTIR analysis showed that the secondary structure was different from that of bovine Achilles tendon collagen. The finding suggests that collagen from sailfin sandfish waste skins may be applied not only to food products and nutraceuticals as materials of edible sausage casings and gelatin but also to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and advanced biomedical applications as peptides.