Procollagen

• The first step in collagen synthesis is the creation of procollagen, a collagen like structure with additional peptides (linked amino acids).
  
  

Endoplasmic Reticulum

• Once the procollagen has been formed it is transported to the endoplasmic reticulum and the procollagen is bonded with two other procollagen chains to create a stronger, triple helix structure.
  
  

Secretion

• After the triple-helix procollagen has been formed, the structure is secreted from or pushed outside of the cell.
  
  

Peptide Removal

• When the procollagen leaves the cell, enzymes remove the extra peptides from the ends of the procollagen, which creates true collagen.
  
  

Fiber Formation

• The last stage of the process is the when the collagen molecules form collagen fibrils, a substructure that is then used to create collagen fibers.