Collagen-Based Electrospun Materials for Tissue Engineering: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Collagen is a key component of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in organs and tissues throughout the body and is used for many tissue engineering applications. Electrospinning of collagen can produce scaffolds in a wide variety of shapes, fiber diameters and porosities to match that of the native ECM. This systematic review aims to pool data from available manuscripts on electrospun collagen and tissue engineering to provide insight into the connection between source material, solvent, crosslinking method and functional outcomes. D-banding was most often observed in electrospun collagen formed using collagen type I isolated from calfskin, often isolated within the laboratory, with short solution solubilization times. All physical and chemical methods of crosslinking utilized imparted resistance to degradation and increased strength. Cytotoxicity was observed at high concentrations of crosslinking agents and when abbreviated rinsing protocols were utilized. Collagen and collagen-based scaffolds were capable of forming engineered tissues in vitro and in vivo with high similarity to the native structures.

Fibrous Polymer-Based Composites Obtained by Electrospinning for Bone Tissue Engineering

“…The key obstacles to its development are related to weak mechanical properties and high degradation rates. Nevertheless, recent works [ 47 , 48 , 49 ] in tissue engineering demonstrate quite a good potential for the use of collagen-based composite fibers. In [ 24 ], the authors introduced the bacterial cellulose–collagen nanocomposites, and showed that the increase of bacterial cellulose content led to a better mechanical stability.…”

Collagen‐based biomaterials for biomedical applications

“…Although several review papers have been published about biomedical applications of collagen, 10‐16 this manuscript presented a more comprehensive one that covers the developmental milestones of different types of collagen in biomedical engineering along with their sources, structures, and functional properties. Moreover, the current manuscript presents the broad applications of collagen in tissue engineering, skin substitutes, and wound healing.…”

Bioengineering of fibroblast‐conditioned polycaprolactone/gelatin electrospun scaffold for skin tissue engineering

“…The ECM composes a complex and accurately organized three‐dimensional network of biomolecules, including fibrous proteins and glycosaminoglycan‐based components. ECM is used frequently as a whole or as individual components in skin wound healing 5,6,24 . Fibrous elements such as collagens and fibronectin create the frame, stability, and tensile strength and regulate cell adhesion and migration 5,6,25 …”

“…3T3 fibroblast, cell adhesion, cell attachment, electrospun, extracellular matrix, plasma treatment, polycaprolactone frequently as a whole or as individual components in skin wound healing. 5,6,24 Fibrous elements such as collagens and fibronectin create the frame, stability, and tensile strength and regulate cell adhesion and migration. 5,6,25 The conditioning of hydrophobic synthetic scaffolds with cell-secreted ECM, rather than tissue ECM, has recently attracted attention to engineering biomimetic scaffolds.…”