Controlled Magnetic Alignment of Oligomeric Collagen
Abstract
Tissue engineering offers many potential solutions for replacement and repair of diseased or damage tissues through the use of engineered constructs. It has become clear that emulation of structural morphology is one important component for successful tissue scaffold development. As the main component of the extra-cellular matrix, collagen is a popular choice as a biopolymer for engineering biomimetic constructs. Magnetic fields have been shown to nondestructively align collagen gels during its sol-gel transition (i.e. polymerization). This technique is limited to the alignment of thin collagen gels and lacks control necessary to achieve targeted alignment profiles. The specific aims of this work were to 1) determine the efficacy of magnetic fields to align oligomeric collagen formulations, 2) evaluate the effect of fibrillogenesis temperature on the resultant fiber anisotropy of magnetic alignment, 3) quantify collagen fiber anisotropy on a bulk- and mico-scale, and 4) investigate the use of magnetic field, temperature, and concentration as tunable parameters for achieving targeted anisotropy levels and alignment depth. The results of this study indicate that magnetic alignment can be extended to oligomeric collagen and can be controlled through temperature and concentration manipulation.
Degree
M.S.B.M.E.
Advisors
Neu, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Biomedical engineering
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