Characterization of collagen type I/tannic acid beads as a cell scaffold

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women worldwide. Surgical removal of tumors is often necessary and many patients suffer complications due to subsequent breast reconstruction. A safe and effective breast reconstructive material is needed for patients recovering from surgical removal of small breast cancer tumors. Our lab has developed injectable collagen/tannic acid beads seeded with patient-derived preadipocytes for regeneration of healthy breast tissue in patients post-lumpectomy. Previous research indicates that the inclusion of tannic acid in the matrix imparts an anticancer property. This research seeks to determine the variables needed to control collagen/tannic acid bead diameter and seeded cell attachment, which are essential to proper bead implantation and function. We found that as tannic acid concentration increases within the beads, cell attachment decreases. Bead diameter is controlled by bead generator voltage, solution osmolality, the degree of cell attachment, and tannic acid concentrations. Higher voltages resulted in significant decrease in bead diameter. Collagen/tannic acid beads decreased in diameter when placed in solutions of increasing osmolality. Higher degrees of cell attachment across the surface of the beads were associated with a significant decrease in diameter. In beads made with high concentrations of tannic acid, bead diameter was found to decrease. Collagen/TA beads are a promising subdermal tissue regenerative matrix with anticancer activity as an alternative to simple lipofilling in breast reconstructive procedures. This study was conducted to better understand the properties of collagen/TA beads in order to improve injection efficacy and tissue regenerative activity.

Biomedical applications of tannic acid

“…Porous collagen scaffolds showed improved mechanical properties without disruption of seeded cell viability. 89,181,182 In 3D printed collagen scaffold, a TA concentration of up to 0.5% showed improved mechanical properties with a Young's modulus of 9.86 kPa compared to 0.61 kPa of pure collagen. Increasing TA concentration increases Young's modulus almost exponentially with 1%TA at 23.34 kPa and 3% TA at 67.13 kPa.…”

“…79 Several studies have created cell scaffolds from collagen utilizing TA as a crosslinking agent to improve mechanical properties, often incorporating other naturally occurring components like chitosan and hyaluronic acid. [181][182][183][184][185][186][187][188] The use of natural materials improves biodegradability without triggering inflammation or immune response and incorporating multiple biomolecules into the material can impart improved cellular response and physiological properties.…”

“…182 Likewise, in a similar study of porous collagen beads seeded with cells, no differences in cell viability were found between 0.1% and 1% TA, though viability dramatically decreased at 10% TA. 181 TA forms hydrogen bond interactions with various naturally occuring polysaccharides, such as chitosan, agarose, and cellulose. 18,[183][184][185][186] Similar to collagen, these polysaccharides are biologically inert material that can be utilized in many tissue engineering scaffolds and hydrogels.…”

Preparation of a Cage-Type Polyglycolic Acid/Collagen Nanofiber Blend with Improved Surface Wettability and Handling Properties for Potential Biomedical Applications

“…In the last few years, there has been a growing interest in Polyglycolic acid (PGA), collagen and their blended compositions incorporated with different functional guest materials for various targeted applications [5][6][7]. Only a few reports could be found regarding electrospun PGA, collagen nanostructures and their blends being incorporated with external functional guest materials to improve surface properties viz.…”

“…In parallel, collagen has also been utilized for several biomedical applications because of its biological characteristics, such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, easy processing and hydrophilicity [7].…”