Effect of Collagenase
on Elastic Properties of Chicken Skin
Name: Nikhil Gupta
Class: BE 210
This experiment aims to primarily answer the question of what effect does collagen have on the material properties of skin and to further relate that to the effect aging has on skin. Aging will be simulated by degrading the collagen in one set of skin samples, resulting in two groups of samples – ‘young’ and ‘old’. It is hypothesized that the elastic modulus will be significantly lower for samples simulating aging, and thus, the stiffness will be less for those samples. Collagen is known to resist tensile deformation. Therefore, a sample with more collagen would require more force to deform the same amount as a sample with less collagen, suggesting that it would have a higher modulus and stiffness. In addition, it is hypothesized that collagenase will significantly decrease the ultimate strength of the chicken skin.