Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Publication
    Non-destructive determination of collagen fibril width in extruded collagen fibres by piezoresponse force microscopy
    Extruded collagen fibres are a promising platform for tissue engineering applications. Ensuring that the functional properties of the engineered tissues possess similar structural properties as native tissues is important for biomedical applications. Advanced imaging tools including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have revealed the structural features of collagen fibrils within such fibres; however, these techniques often require modification steps that can alter the sample in the process. Here, lateral piezoresponse force microscopy (LPFM), which is sensitive to the polar orientation of piezoelectric collagen fibrils, is demonstrated as a promising tool to assess the width of individual fibrils and moreover map their organisation and polar orientation without altering the sample. Within the fibres studied, the collagen fibrils showed a highly anisotropic arrangement with preferred alignment along the length of the fibre. Fibril widths of 74 ± 18 nm and 73 ± 19 nm in untreated and bleached fibres, respectively, were measured from LPFM amplitude images. These values agreed with values from SEM (70 ± 10 nm) and AFM (71 ± 19 nm) measurements that could only be obtained from bleached fibres.
    Scopus© Citations 4  352
  • Publication
    Electromechanical properties of dried tendon and iso-electrically focused collagen hydrogels
    Assembling artificial collagenous tissues with structural, functional, and mechanical properties which mimic natural tissues is of vital importance for many tissue engineering applications. While the electro-mechanical properties of collagen are thought to play a role in, for example, bone formation and remodeling, this functional property has not been adequately addressed in engineered tissues. Here the electro-mechanical properties of rat tail tendon are compared with those of dried isoelectrically focused collagen hydrogels using piezoresponse force microscopy under ambient conditions. In both the natural tissue and the engineered hydrogel D-periodic type I collagen fibrils are observed, which exhibit shear piezoelectricity. While both tissues also exhibit fibrils with parallel orientations, Fourier transform analysis has revealed that the degree of parallel alignment of the fibrils in the tendon is three times that of the dried hydrogel. The results obtained demonstrate that isoelectrically focused collagen has similar structural and electro-mechanical properties to that of tendon, which is relevant for tissue engineering applications.
    Scopus© Citations 39  1107