Development of artificial tendon matrices which mimic hierarchical collagen structure of tendon and evaluation of their remodeling properties

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K01321
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biomedical engineering/Biomaterial science and engineering
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Principal Investigator: Yunoki Shunji 地方独立行政法人東京都立産業技術研究センター, 開発本部開発第二部バイオ応用技術グループ, 主任研究員 (20399398)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 安田 和則 北海道大学, 医学研究院, 名誉教授 (20166507) ; 近藤 英司 北海道大学, 医学研究院, 特任教授 (60374724) ; 大藪 淑美 地方独立行政法人東京都立産業技術研究センター, 開発本部開発第二部バイオ応用技術グループ, 主任研究員 (80587410)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 人工腱 / コラーゲン / ファイバー / 紡糸

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed a continuous formation method of cord-like collagen gels comprising fibrils preferentially aligned along the geometrical axes (CCGs). Collagen dissolved in a sodium phosphate buffer was introduced into a stainless cylinder warmed at 38°C. This process caused collagen fibril alignments under acute fibril formation in the cylinder, resulting in continuous formation of CCGs. Outstanding advantages of this method over conventional wet spinning include the capacity of this technique to form aligned fibrils in the entire gels and to control the diameter of cord-like gels over 1 mm.
The air-drying of CCGs produced dry collagen fibers with cross-sectional areas of 0.0123-0.135 mm2. Upon the rewetting of the fibers, they failed at a stress of 54.5 MPa, which is higher than the mean failure stress of anterior cruciate ligament tissue(13.3-37.8 MPa) Artificial tendons with the capacity of cell infiltration could be fabricated from the fibers by braiding.

Free Research Field

生体材料