A Biomimetic Collagen-Apatite Scaffold with a Multi-Level Lamellar Structure for Bone Tissue Engineering.

ABSTRACT: Collagen-apatite (Col-Ap) scaffolds have been widely employed for bone tissue engineering. We fabricated a Col-Ap scaffold with a unique multi-level lamellar structure consisting of co-aligned micro and macro pores. The basic building blocks of this scaffold are bone-like mineralized collagen fibers developed via a biomimetic self-assembly process in a collagen-containing modified simulated body fluid (m-SBF). This biomimetic method preserves the structural integrity and great tensile strength of collagen by reinforcing the collagen hydrogel with apatite nano-particles. Unidirectional aligned macro pores with a size of 63.8 to 344 μm are created by controlling the freezing rate and direction. The thickness of Col-Ap lamellae can be adjusted in the range 3.6 to 23 μm depending on the self-c

SUBMITTER: Xia Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4078891 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature