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Tissue engineered scaffolds are being developed as treatment options for malfunctioning tissues throughout the body. It is essential that the scaffold is a close mimic of the native tissue with regards to both mechanical and biological functionalities. Therefore, the production of elastic scaffolds is of key importance to fabricate tissue engineered scaffolds of the elastic tissues such as heart valves and blood vessels. Combining naturally derived and synthetic materials to reach this goal proves to be an interesting area where a highly tunable material that unites mechanical and biological functionalities can be obtained.

The results indicated that even mild disruption of collagen fibers can lead to substantial mechanical softening of TMJ disc undermining its reinforcement and mechanical stability under compression.

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The collagen architecture is the major determinant of the function and mechanical behavior of cardiovascular tissues. In order to engineer a functional and load-bearing cardiovascular tissue with a structure that mimics the native tissue to meet in vivo mechanical demands, a complete understanding of the collagen orientation mechanism is required. Several methods have been used to visualize collagen architecture in tissue-engineered (TE) constructs, but they either have a limited imaging depth or have a complicated set up. In this study, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is explored as a fast and reliable method to visualize collagen arrangement, and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) was used as a validation technique. Uniaxially constrained TE strips were cultured for 2 days, 10 days, 3 and 6 weeks to investigate the evolution of the collagen orientation with time. Moreover, a comparison of the collagen orientation in high and low aspect ratio (length/width) TE constructs was made with both methods. Both methods showed similar fiber orientation in TE constructs. Collagen fibers in the high aspect ratio samples were mostly aligned in the constrained direction, while the collagen fibers in low aspect ratio strips were mainly oriented in the oblique direction. The orientation changed to the oblique direction by extending culture time and could also be visualized. DTI captured the collagen orientation differences between low and high aspect ratio samples and with time. Therefore, it can be used as a fast, non-destructive and reliable tool to study the evolution of the collagen orientation in TE constructs.

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is characterised by the weakening of the pelvic floor support tissues, and often by subsequent prolapse of the bladder outside the body, i.e. cystocele. The bladder is kept in place by the anterior vaginal wall which consists of a dense extracellular matrix rich in collagen content that is maintained and remodelled by fibroblastic cells, i.e. fibroblasts and myofibroblasts. Since altered matrix production influences tissue quality, and myofibroblasts are involved in normal and pathological soft tissue repair processes, we evaluated matrix production of cells derived from pre- and post-menopausal POP and non-POP control anterior vaginal wall tissues. Results showed that cells from postmenopausal POP women deposited matrices with high percentage of collagen fibres with less anisotropic orientation and increased stiffness than those produced by controls. There was a transient increase in myofibroblastic phenotype that was lost after the peak of tissue remodelling. In conclusion, affected fibroblasts from postmenopausal prolapsed tissues produced altered matrices in vitro compared to controls. Such aberrant altered matrix production does not appear to be a consequence of abnormal phenotypical changes towards the myofibroblastic lineage.