Mild Reaction of Highly-Oriented Collagen Fibril Arrays with Simulated Body Fluid

Abstract

The highly-oriented collagen fibrils that paralleled to one (rubbing) direction were fabricated by which the collagen molecular solution was spin-coated and self-assembled on the rubbed polyimide film. Subsequently, the hydroxyapatite crystals were precipitated on the collagen fibrils by immersing into simulated body fluid. In details, the carboxyl groups on the collagen fibrils were used as a reaction field for adsorption of Ca2+ ions and promoted the formation of hydroxyapatite crystals. As a result, the hydroxyapatite crystals grew along the a-axis leading to the formation of stable interfaces between hydroxyapatite crystals and collagen fibrils. Moreover, the oriented collagen fibril arrays were more useful for the nucleation and growth of hydroxyapatite. Therefore, we successfully fabricated the highly-oriented collagen fibril arrays which were useful for the precipitation of hydroxyapatite crystals.