from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Collagen makes up one of the most important parts of the extracellular matrix and connective tissue. Collagen type I accounts for up to 90% of the collagen found in the body and it can be isolated and purified in large quantities and processed into a variety of forms. With respect to the process of the treatment of collagen into the nano-fibrous and submicron-fibrous forms, severe conditions leading to the denaturation of the collagen and thus the gelatin content should be avoided. Centrifugal force spinning and electrospinning processes appear to present promising methods for the spinning of collagen solutions. This paper deals with a comparison of the various methods applied in the processing of collagen, i.e. principally needle and needleless centrifugal spinning technology and electrospinning technology. In addition, the effect of process parameters and collagen solution conditions on the final form of the material was analyzed. Spun layers were prepared based on collagen type I isolated from calf skin. Nano-structured layers were prepared employing the spinning of 4–16 wt% collagen solutions in phosphate buffer saline and ethanol. The layers thus prepared were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
Keywords: Collagen; electrospinning; centrifugal force spinning; triple-helix© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.