Engineered collagen polymeric materials create noninflammatory regenerative microenvironments that avoid classical foreign body responses

• Main Authors: Brookes, S. (Author), Cox, A. (Author), Gao, H. (Author), Liu, Y. (Author), Morrison, R.A (Author), Puls, T.J (Author), Voytik-Harbin, S.L (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Royal Society of Chemistry 2023
• Subjects: animal; Animals; Anti-inflammatories; Biocompatible Materials; biomaterial; collagen; Collagen; Collagen scaffolds; collagen type 1; Collagen Type I; foreign body reaction; Foreign Body Response; Foreign-Body Reaction; Host immune response; Implantation models; Medical Devices; Medical implants; metabolism; Microenvironments; Oligomers; Polymeric implants; Polymeric materials; rat; Rats; Scaffolds (biology); Tissue response; Tissue Scaffolds; Transcriptomics
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 The efficacy and longevity of medical implants and devices is largely determined by the host immune response, which extends along a continuum from pro-inflammatory/pro-fibrotic to anti-inflammatory/pro-regenerative. Using a rat subcutaneous implantation model, along with histological and transcriptomics analyses, we characterized the tissue response to a collagen polymeric scaffold fabricated from polymerizable type I oligomeric collagen (Oligomer) in comparison to commercial synthetic and collagen-based products. In contrast to commercial biomaterials, no evidence of an immune-mediated foreign body reaction, fibrosis, or bioresorption was observed with Oligomer scaffolds for beyond 60 days. Oligomer scaffolds were noninflammatory, eliciting minimal innate inflammation and immune cell accumulation similar to sham surgical controls. Genes associated with Th2 and regulatory T cells were instead upregulated, implying a novel pathway to immune tolerance and regenerative remodeling for biomaterials. © 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.