Abstract
For medical application, easily accessible biomaterials with tailored properties are desirable. Collagen type I represents a biomaterial of choice for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Here, we present a simple method to modify the properties of collagen and to generate collagen laminates. We selected three commercially available collagen sheets with different thicknesses and densities and examined the effect of rose bengal and green light collagen crosslinking (RGX) on properties such as microstructure, swelling degree, mechanical stability, cell compatibility and drug release. The highest impact of RGX was measured for Atelocollagen, for which the swelling degree was reduced from 630% (w/w) to 520% (w/w) and thickness measured under force application increased from 0.014 mm to 0.455 mm, indicating a significant increase in mechanical stability. Microstructural analysis revealed that the sponge-like structure was replaced by a fibrous structure. While the initial burst effect during vancomycin release was not influenced by crosslinking, RGX increased cell proliferation on sheets of Atelocollagen and on Collagen Solutions. We furthermore demonstrate that RGX can be used to covalently attach different sheets to create materials with combined properties, making the modification and combination of readily available sheets with RGX an attractive approach for clinical application.
Highlights
Collagen type I is the most frequently used natural biomaterial for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering since, as the main component of the extracellular matrix, it is biocompatible and biodegradable [1,2,3,4]
Thicknesses, densities and crosslinking degrees that may be used as wound inserts for drug delivery. We investigated their swelling degree, microstructure, mechanical. We investigated their swelling degree, microstructure, mechanical stability and release of vancomycin as a model drug
Samples were conditioned in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) for 24 h before measurement. (A) Collagen Solutions, (B) Viscofan, and room temperature (RT)
Summary
Collagen type I is the most frequently used natural biomaterial for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering since, as the main component of the extracellular matrix, it is biocompatible and biodegradable [1,2,3,4]. Collagen may be extracted from animal tissue [5,6] or produced recombinantly [7,8]. While the native form of collagen type I is crosslinked intra- and intermolecularly providing tensile stiffness [11,12], the processed form after extraction lacks mechanical strength. To be applied in tissue engineering, extracted collagen type I and atelocollagen need to be crosslinked to increase mechanical strength and enzymatic resistance [9,11].
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