Construction and evaluation of fibrillar composite hydrogel of collagen/konjac glucomannan for potential biomedical applications.

Jiayuan Tang,Jing Guo,Hongsong Fan,Qingrong Wei,Jinlin Chen

doi:10.1093/rb/rby018

Jiayuan Tang, Jing Guo + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1093/rb/rby018

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Abstract

Konjac glucomannan (KGM) is recognized as a safe material for its health-promoting benefits and thus widely used in various fields including pharmaceutical industry. In recent decades, the combination of collagen and KGM attracts more attentions for biomedical purpose, especially the hybrid films of collagen–KGM or collagen–KGM–polysaccharide. In this study, to further and deeply develop the intrinsic values of both collagen and KGM as biomaterials, a novel kind of composite hydrogel comprising collagen and KGM at a certain ratio was fabricated under mild conditions via fibrillogenesis process of the aqueous blends of collagen and KGM that experienced deacetylation simultaneously. The chemical composition, microcosmic architectures, swelling behavior, biodegradation and dynamic mechanic properties of such resulted composite hydrogels were systematically investigated. Biologic experiments, including cell culture in vitro and hypodermic implantation in vivo, were also conducted on these collagen/KGM composite hydrogels to evaluate their biologic performances. The relevant results prove that, based on collagen self-assembly behavior, this synthesis strategy is efficient to construct a composite hydrogel of collagen/KGM with improved mechanical properties, biodegradability, excellent biocompatibility and bioactivity, which are promising for potential biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Highlights

Tissue engineering involves culturing cells in biodegradable matrices and subsequently implanting into a new functional tissues [1, 2]
The band at 1730 cmÀ1 attributed to the presence of acetyl groups was identified in Konjac glucomannan (KGM) (Fig. 1d) but not in both deacetylate- KGM (d-KGM) (Fig. 1c) and collagen/KGM composite gels (Fig. 1b) [47, 51], which suggests the complete removal of acetyl groups from the component of KGM under alkaline condition during the preparation process of the collagen/KGM composite hydrogel
The absorption peaks at 807 cmÀ1 were attributed to the breathing vibrations of pyran rings within KGM molecule chains [47], and the bimodal bands around 1057 cmÀ1 were derived from the characteristic vibrations of primary hydroxyl groups on the pyran rings of native KGM macromolecules (Fig. 1d)

Summary

Introduction

Tissue engineering involves culturing cells in biodegradable matrices and subsequently implanting into a new functional tissues [1, 2]. Scaffold materials play important roles in tissue engineering because the cell attachment, proliferation, migration and differentiation are closely effected by the biologic properties of the scaffold materials and the porous architecture of scaffolds that contribute to building appropriate microenvironments for the cell population [3, 4]. The materials fabricated for an ideal scaffold that functions as an analogous extracellular matrix (ECM) should be biocompatible, biodegradable and functionalized with bioactive components to cells [5], the constructed scaffold should provide a mechanical support with good interconnectivity and high porosity [1,2,3,4].

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