Biomedical applications of collagens

Abstract

Collagen-based biomedical materials have developed into important, clinically effective materials used in a range of devices that have gained wide acceptance. These devices come with collagen in various formats, including those based on stabilized natural tissues, those that are based on extracted and purified collagens, and designed composite, biosynthetic materials. Further knowledge on the structure and function of collagens has led to on-going developments and improvements. Among these developments has been the production of recombinant collagen materials that are well defined and are disease free. Most recently, a group of bacterial, non-animal collagens has emerged that may provide an excellent, novel source of collagen for use in biomaterials and other applications. These newer collagens are discussed in detail. They can be modified to direct their function, and they can be fabricated into various formats, including films and sponges, while solutions can also be adapted for use in surface coating technologies.

Collagen: a network for regenerative medicine

“…59 Bacterial and recombinant collagen proteins are other alternatives to mammalian collagen, containing well-defined amino acid structures which can be modified with additional cell signalling sequences. 60 Despite the advantages, bacterial collagen has a very low tendency to form fibrils, something which is believed to be caused by a lack of hydroxyproline residues. 60 While infinitely variable, recombinant proteins are generally limited in size, and thus are closer in nature to gelatins rather than native collagen fibrils.…”

“…60 Despite the advantages, bacterial collagen has a very low tendency to form fibrils, something which is believed to be caused by a lack of hydroxyproline residues. 60 While infinitely variable, recombinant proteins are generally limited in size, and thus are closer in nature to gelatins rather than native collagen fibrils. As such, they cannot recapitulate the long triple helices of collagen molecules, and thus any cell adhesive ligands may have an altered conformation in comparison with those found on collagen fibers.…”

Mesenchymal stem cells and alginate microcarriers for craniofacial bone tissue engineering: A review

“…Many natural and synthetic materials are used extensively for bone tissue engineering. Natural materials, such as alginate, collagen, fibrin, and gelatin, and synthetic materials, such as PLA and PLGA, are the most frequently used microcarriers. Synthetic polyesters, such as PLA and PLGA, have gained popularity because of their high mechanical strength, predictable kinetics, and low immunogenicity and toxicity .…”

Elastomers in vascular tissue engineering

“…Being naturally derived, special care must be taken through this process to control for batch variation, purity and the risk of transmitting infectious agents [33]. Additionally, the use of cross-linkers such as GA to stabilize materials requires optimization to avoid causing tissue calcification when implanted [34].…”