Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture
Abstract We report a simple histological study on skin biopsies from young domestic sheep following each step in transformation from skin to parchment production. During the recreation of historical parchment manufacture, histological analyses were conducted; before and after lime treatment, hair re...
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doaj-85e4a3edefb147de928567b5ea8b25692020-11-25T02:59:16ZengSpringerOpenHeritage Science2050-74452020-08-01811710.1186/s40494-020-00421-zHistological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufactureMarc Fourneau0Caroline Canon1Daniel Van Vlaender2Matthew J. Collins3Sarah Fiddyment4Yves Poumay5Olivier Deparis6GSK VaccinesDepartment of Medicine, University of NamurDepartment of Medicine, University of NamurDepartment of Archaeology, The McDonald Institute, University of CambridgeDepartment of Archaeology, The McDonald Institute, University of CambridgeDepartment of Medicine, University of NamurDepartment of Physics, University of NamurAbstract We report a simple histological study on skin biopsies from young domestic sheep following each step in transformation from skin to parchment production. During the recreation of historical parchment manufacture, histological analyses were conducted; before and after lime treatment, hair removal, and stretching. Sections were fixed and stained using a variety of histological stains to identify the presence of different molecular classes and the fibrous proteins, collagen and elastin. The results reveal surprisingly few histological changes in most steps in the production process. However, very visible changes in the supramolecular ordering of skin macromolecules (elastin, collagen) occur during the final stage of parchment production when stretched on the frame. Collagen fibres and hair follicles were all strongly re-oriented in the direction of strain. Surprisingly despite the thinness of the lambskin and the exhaustive treatment in lime, not all fats were saponified and even in the final product Oil Red O stained fat bodies were detectable on the hair side of the skin. We believe this study will help compensate for the lack of sources on microscopic changes in parchment during the recreation of its historical manufacture.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40494-020-00421-zSheep skinHistologyParchmentCollagenElastinLipid |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Marc Fourneau Caroline Canon Daniel Van Vlaender Matthew J. Collins Sarah Fiddyment Yves Poumay Olivier Deparis |
spellingShingle |
Marc Fourneau Caroline Canon Daniel Van Vlaender Matthew J. Collins Sarah Fiddyment Yves Poumay Olivier Deparis Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture Heritage Science Sheep skin Histology Parchment Collagen Elastin Lipid |
author_facet |
Marc Fourneau Caroline Canon Daniel Van Vlaender Matthew J. Collins Sarah Fiddyment Yves Poumay Olivier Deparis |
author_sort |
Marc Fourneau |
title |
Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture |
title_short |
Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture |
title_full |
Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture |
title_fullStr |
Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture |
title_full_unstemmed |
Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture |
title_sort |
histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture |
publisher |
SpringerOpen |
series |
Heritage Science |
issn |
2050-7445 |
publishDate |
2020-08-01 |
description |
Abstract We report a simple histological study on skin biopsies from young domestic sheep following each step in transformation from skin to parchment production. During the recreation of historical parchment manufacture, histological analyses were conducted; before and after lime treatment, hair removal, and stretching. Sections were fixed and stained using a variety of histological stains to identify the presence of different molecular classes and the fibrous proteins, collagen and elastin. The results reveal surprisingly few histological changes in most steps in the production process. However, very visible changes in the supramolecular ordering of skin macromolecules (elastin, collagen) occur during the final stage of parchment production when stretched on the frame. Collagen fibres and hair follicles were all strongly re-oriented in the direction of strain. Surprisingly despite the thinness of the lambskin and the exhaustive treatment in lime, not all fats were saponified and even in the final product Oil Red O stained fat bodies were detectable on the hair side of the skin. We believe this study will help compensate for the lack of sources on microscopic changes in parchment during the recreation of its historical manufacture. |
topic |
Sheep skin Histology Parchment Collagen Elastin Lipid |
url |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40494-020-00421-z |
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