No.6（2011）16.Highly elastic collagen gels prepared from thermo-responsive shrinkage and swelling

Shunji Yunoki

  Highly elastic collagen gels were prepared from cross-linked collagen fibrillar gels by the use of their thermo-responsive shrinkage and swelling. The collagen gels prepared by simultaneous processing of fibril formation and chemically-induced cross-linking dramatically shrunk in hot water (80°C). The shrunken gels had a rubber-like elasticity as reported previously. Interestingly, the shrunken gels gradually swelled in cold water (4°C), and partially recovered the appearance and mechanical properties of the cross-linked collagen fibrillar gels. The thermo-responsive shrinkage and swelling was reversible. The swelled gel showed highly elastic properties; its stress-strain behavior changed little through 10 repetitions of penetration to a strain of 0.5. The strain at the breaking point was above 0.8. The high elasticity of the swelled collagen gel is expected to be useful for tissue engineering applications in which elastic properties are required. The swelling of the collagen gel in cold water seemed to be due to the renaturation of denatured collagen. This speculation is supported by the similarity in thermo-responsibility between the gel swelling and renaturation of denatured collagen.

Keywords
collagen, gel, fibril, denaturation, renaturation, thermo-responsive

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