# Optimized Conditions for Extracting Native Type-I Collagen from Discarded Fish Skin Using Hydrochloric Acid to Overcome the Drawbacks of Acetic Acid

## TL;DR

This paper presents a faster and simpler method to extract native type-I collagen from fish skin using hydrochloric acid instead of acetic acid.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel, time-efficient hydrochloric acid-based method for collagen extraction that avoids the drawbacks of acetic acid.

## Key findings

- Collagen extracted with hydrochloric acid retained its native triple-helical structure.
- The extraction process took only 5 hours, significantly shorter than the 72 hours required with acetic acid.
- The method avoids complex dialysis steps and preserves collagen thermal stability.

## Abstract

Fish skin, a by-product of commercial fish processing, represents a viable source of type I collagen. Acetic acid has been widely used for the extraction of collagen from fish skin because it can preserve the native structure. However, it requires an extraction time of more than 72 h and complex and time-consuming dialysis steps to remove acetic acid residues from the extracted collagen which can otherwise cause inferior structural modifications. Therefore, this study describes a simple time- and cost-effective method to extract collagen using hydrochloric acid. The experiments focused on understanding the behavior of fish skin and changes in the extraction medium. The extraction procedure developed in this study includes treatment with a 0.01 M hydrochloric acid solution at a 1:20 mass to volume ratio for 5 h, followed by homogenization. The native triple-helical structure of collagen was confirmed by ATR-FTIR and circular dichroism spectroscopy. Thermal stability was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry. This study also provides guidelines for the application of this knowledge to skin of any fish species of interest: (i) an upper limit of pH 4 during collagen extraction; (ii) a manageable viscosity of the collagen extract solution; and (iii) as few undissolved skin pieces as possible after homogenization.