On the control of collagen fibril organization and morphology

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20000060

Despite the extensive research on the in vitro engineering of load-bearing tissues (i.e. ligament, tendon and cornea) there has been only limited clinical success. Load-bearing biological structures in vertebrate animals have high mechanical strength which is generally the result of their highly-organized extracellular matrix (ECM). Due to its biocompatibility and ability to form polymerized gels around cells in culture, collagen is an attractive candidate for both de novo tissue engineering and as a scaffolding material. 2 or 3D networks of collagen (most possessing little organization) have been extensively used in tissue engineering applications but have not performed well when the target tissue possesses highly-organized ECM. To overcome this limitation, investigators have employed physical or chemical manipulations of collagen molecules to produce 2D aligned arrays of collagen fibrils for use as guiding templates to influence cell behavior and to control subsequent matrix organization. Unfortunately, the organization of the cells and the synthesized ECM is only influenced over short distances from the organized template. Thus there is a need for scaffolds which are organized in 3-dimensions.