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Tendon-inspired fibers from liquid crystalline collagen as the pre-oriented bioink.

Authors :
Deng F
Dang Y
Tang L
Hu T
Ding C
Hu X
Wu H
Chen L
Huang L
Ni Y
Zhang M
Source :
International journal of biological macromolecules [Int J Biol Macromol] 2021 Aug 31; Vol. 185, pp. 739-749. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jul 01.
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Nature provides rich bionic resources for the construction of advanced materials with excellent mechanical properties. In this work, inspired by animal tendons, a bionic collagen fiber was developed using collagen liquid crystals as the pre-oriented bioink. The texture of liquid crystalline collagen observed from polarized optical microscopy (POM) showed the specific molecular pre-orientation. Meanwhile, the collagen spinning liquids exhibited a minimal rise in viscosity upon increasing concentration from 60 to 120 mg/mL, indicating the feasible processability. The collagen fiber, which was prepared via wet spinning without being denatured, exhibited the favorable orientation of fibrils along its axis as observed with FESEM and AFM. Thanks to the synergistic effects between pre-orientation and shearing orientation, the maximum tensile strength and Young's modulus of collagen fibers reached 9.98 cN/tex (219.29 ± 22.92 MPa) and 43.95 ± 1.11 cN/tex (966.20 ± 24.30 MPa), respectively, which were also analogous to those of tendon. In addition, the collagen fiber possessed a desirable wet strength. Benefiting from the natural tissue affinity of collagen, the as-prepared bionic collagen fiber possessed excellent wound suture performance and biodegradability in vivo, which offers a new perspective for the potential of widespread applications of collagen fibers in biomedical fields.<br /> (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1879-0003
Volume :
185
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
International journal of biological macromolecules
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
34216674
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.06.173