摘要
Because of the excellent biocompatibility and its specific amino sequences,collagen is an ideal biomedical material for tissue engineering applications. But collagen is usually lack of mechanical strength to form a rigid 3-D matrix and lack of ability to resist collagenase. In order to be a tissue engineering scaffold,collagen must strengthen its structures by modifying with chemical crosslinkers. Chemical crosslinkers used for modifying collagen fibers include glutaraldehyde(GA),epoxy compounds(PC) and carbodiimides (EDC). The aim of this study is to choose the best chemical crosslinker from the three reagents. In terms of the resistance to collagenase degradation,chemical cross-linking with PC provided the best protection; in terms of the mechanical characterization,chemical cross-linking with GA provided the best;and in terms of the biocompatibility,chemical cross-linking with EDC provided the best.There is not a reagent which has all merits for collagen crosslinking,so we should select the crosslinking reagent as the demands of use ask.
Because of the excellent biocompatibility and its specific amino sequences, collagen is an ideal biomedical material for tissue engineering applications. But collagen is usually lack of mechanical strength to form a rigid 3-D matrix and lack of ability to resist collagenase. In order to be a tissue engineering scaffold, collagen must strengthen its structures by modifying with chemical crosslinkers. Chemical crosslinkers used for modif- ying collagen fibers include glutaraldehyde （GA）, epoxy compounds （PC） and carbodiim- ides （EDC）. The aim of this study is to choose the best chemical crosslinker from the three reagents. In terms of the resistance to collagenase degradation, chemical cross-link- ing with PC provided the best protection; in terms of the mechanical characterization, chemical cross-linking with GA provided the best;and in terms of the biocompatibility, chemical cross-linking with EDC provided the best. There is not a reagent which has all merits for collagen crosslinking, so we should select the crosslinking reagent as the demands of use ask.
