Mechanical Methods of Producing Biomaterials with Aligned Collagen Fibrils

Abstract

Collagen has been used in various therapeutic medical devices, such as artificial dermis, bone, and cartilage, wherein the effectiveness of collagen mainly depends on its biological features of biocompatibility, biodegradability, bioresorbability, cell affinity, and weak antigenicity. Collagen is the main structural protein in the human body and is responsible for the mechanical properties of tissues and organs. The fundamental structural component of tendon tissue is uniaxially aligned collagen fibrils that run parallel to the geometrical axis. Thus, the fabrication of artificial tendons is an excellent example of developing biomaterials using collagen as a structural backbone. Previous attempts to construct aligned fibril-based biomaterials involved electrospinning, freeze drying, using a strong magnetic field, and mechanical methods, including shearing and tension during wet extrusion. Among these, mechanical methods have been extensively studied owing to their simplicity and effectiveness suitable for mass production. However, few review articles have focused on these mechanical methods. Thus, this article reviews the mechanical methods for creating biomaterials from aligned collagen fibril while discussing the other fabrication methods in brief.