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arXiv · 2201.08344

Effect of Mammalian Tissue Source on the Molecular and Macroscopic Characteristics of UV-Cured Type I Collagen Hydrogel Networks

Charles Brooker·Giuseppe Tronci
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Abstract

The tissue source of type I collagen is critical to ensure scalability and regulation-friendly clinical translation of new medical device prototypes. However, the selection of a commercial source of collagen that fulfils both aforementioned requirements and is compliant with new manufacturing routes is challenging. This study investigates the effect that type I collagen extracted from three different mammalian tissues has on the molecular and macroscopic characteristics of a new UV-cured collagen hydrogel. Pepsin-solubilised bovine atelocollagen (BA) and pepsin-solubilised porcine atelocollagen (PA) were selected as commercially available raw materials associated with varying safety risks and compared with in-house acid-extracted type I collagen from rat tails (CRT). All raw materials displayed the typical dichroic and electrophoretic characteristics of type I collagen, while significantly decreased lysine content was measured on samples of PA. Following covalent functionalisation with 4-vinylbenzyl chloride (4VBC), BA and CRT products generated comparable UV-cured hydrogels with significantly increased averaged gel content (G > 97 wt.%), while the porcine variants revealed the highest swelling ratio (SR = 2224 +/- 242 wt.%) and an order of magnitude reduction in compression modulus (Ec = 6 +/- 2 kPa). Collectively, these results support the use of bovine tissues as a chemically viable source of type I collagen for the realisation of UV-cured hydrogels with competitive mechanical properties and covalent network architectures.

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Charles Brooker, Giuseppe Tronci. 2022-01-20. Effect of Mammalian Tissue Source on the Molecular and Macroscopic Characteristics of UV-Cured Type I Collagen Hydrogel Networks. https://doi.org/10.3390/prosthesis4010001

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