Design of biomimetic collagen matrices by reagent-free electron beam induced crosslinking: Structure-property relationships and cellular response

Energetic electron assisted synthesis of highly tunable temperature-responsive collagen/elastin gels for cyclic actuation: macroscopic switching and molecular origins

“…Therefore, there is a reduction of the helical and coil content during irradiation. This seems to contradict our findings regarding FTIR measurements on irradiated collagen gels: We showed that the gels exhibit only minor changes in the chemical structure upon irradiation 9 . We propose that the connectivity of amino acids is, if any, slightly altered as opposed to the folding state of the protein chain.…”

“…Attachment of stimuli responsive elements constitutes one route to implement “smart properties” into collagen, which is conventionally realized by biochemical reactions, but can also be facilitated merely by treatment of hydrated blends with energetic electrons, as we demonstrat in the following for collagen/elastin gels. Primarily based on a water-splitting mechanism, the treatment with energetic electrons constitutes a highly attractive alternative to introduce intra- and intermolecular covalent crosslinks without the need for addition of further, potentially hazardous, reagents 9 .…”

“…In the present work we demonstrate that electron beam modified blends of natural collagen and elastin gels constitute a milestone towards two-way bio actuation. Furthermore, the electron beam treatment sterilizes the samples 9 .…”

Inhomogeneities in 3D Collagen Matrices Impact Matrix Mechanics and Cancer Cell Migration

“…Since hydrogels are used to investigate cancer cell behavior, collagen type I from bovine dermis and rat tail tendon are prominently employed for matrix engineering ( Brown, 1982 ; Behrens et al, 1989 ; Liebersbach and Sanderson, 1994 ; Friedl et al, 1997 ; Wolf et al, 2009 , 2013 ; Willis et al, 2013 ; Mohammadi et al, 2015 ; Sapudom et al, 2015 , 2019 ; Krause et al, 2019 ). In many cases, even mixtures of rat and bovine collagen are used ( Koch et al, 2012 ; Lang et al, 2015 ; Lautscham et al, 2015 ; Fischer et al, 2017 , 2020 ; Kunschmann et al, 2019 ; Riedel et al, 2019 ; Sauer et al, 2019 ; Mierke et al, 2020 ). Although those collagen matrices are made of the same type of collagen (namely type I), they can assemble to a totally different network exhibiting different physical properties ( Wolf et al, 2009 ; Paul et al, 2016 ).…”

Development of Advanced Biodevices Using Quantum Beam Microfabrication Technology

“…On the other hand, gelatin can be crosslinked by radiation in the presence of water, i.e., in the solution state [50]. Mayer et al focused on electron beam cross-linking technology and developed gelatin and collagen hydrogels [51][52][53]. The quantum beam cross-linking technology capable of gelation without crosslinking agent is attracting attention for use in regenerative medicine and drug discovery.…”