Collagen is a very important protein, which plays an important role in the formation of human skin, blood vessels, bones, tendons, teeth and cartilage, and is the main material basis of these connective tissues. Most of the common people's cognition of collagen is in the level of food health care, which is used as health care products to improve immunity and delay aging. For medical researchers, the application potential of collagen in the medical field is even greater, especially the collagen scaffold technology, which has a very broad prospect. Recently, the University of Cambridge issued a press release to introduce the research results of researchers in this field.
Construction of collagen scaffold
As an ideal material for biomimetic application, collagen has a strong stretching ability and can be used as an important material for tissue regeneration in laboratory or clinical. The porous structure of collagen can be used as a "scaffold" to make the cells and tissues attached to it grow in a predetermined form, and eventually become tissues very similar to the human tissues needed. This is called collagen scaffold technology.
The idea of using collagen as a "scaffold" is not new, but it is not easy to achieve this goal, which requires a high degree of control. In order to construct the scaffold that meets the requirements, the researchers mixed the collagen solution with water and frozen it to form ice crystals. Since collagen cannot be frozen, it will accumulate on the edge of ice crystals. When the pressure around the ice crystals drops to a very low level, it directly transforms from the solid to the vapor, leaving behind the collagen structure. By precisely controlling the growth of ice crystals during water freezing, the researchers were able to control the shape and properties of the resulting collagen scaffold. The potential use of scaffolds can be changed by adding amino acids called peptide sequences to different sites on the surface of scaffolds. Peptide sequence can not only promote some cells to bind to the scaffold, but also drive some cells away from the scaffold, thus forming a specific tissue type or having a specific biological reaction mode.
"The collagen scaffold is like a blank three-dimensional canvas - you can sketch it in different ways." Professor Ruth Cameron of the Department of metallurgy and materials science at Cambridge University said, "it can be used to mimic the behavior of natural tissues, or directly form structures of different shapes or orders."
Collagen micro scaffold out of the laboratory
Micro scaffolds made of collagen can be used to repair damaged joints, develop new cancer treatments, and even repair damaged hearts of heart patients. And this technology has begun to go out of the laboratory and apply to actual cases.
According to the press release, a product called chondromitic has passed clinical trials and received CE mark certification and can be sold in Europe. The product mimics bone structure by adding calcium and phosphate to the scaffold to help regenerate bone and cartilage. This product can be used to repair damaged knee joints and bone defects caused by osteoarthritis, trauma or surgery.
In the future, collagen scaffold can also be used in the treatment of heart disease. With the support of the British Heart Foundation, researchers at Cambridge University are working to develop a stent that can be used to repair damaged hearts. They are trying to use collagen scaffolds to "plant" new heart cells in damaged areas of the heart to grow into new myocardium. This regenerative heart "patch" can help the heart return to normal operation. Although the study is still in its infancy, the researchers believe that collagen scaffolds will one day become an important tool for the treatment of coronary heart disease.
"These scaffolds give cells a place to stand." "In the end, we hope to be able to use these scaffolds, along with the cells that we take directly from the patient's body, so that the patient's heart can recover from failure," said Professor Richard farndell of the Department of Biochemistry at Cambridge University
Collagen scaffolds can be used to make anything
Another potential application of collagen scaffolds is in the field of breast cancer research. The researchers tried to fine tune the scaffold to create a three-dimensional model of breast tissue. If successful, the artificial breast tissue can be used to test new breast cancer drugs. Researchers will no longer have to carry out research through a large number of animal experiments, and the final personalized treatment will be expected.
"This is a unique research system." Professor Christine Watson, of the Department of pathology at Cambridge University, said: "we can add different types of cells to the scaffold at different times, which is not what others can do. This makes cancer research relatively easy, and ultimately it's the patients who benefit
Like breast tissue, platelet production requires a very special environment. Using scaffold technology, the researchers created a small environment suitable for the growth of bone marrow cells, using adult stem cells to produce platelets. In theory, platelets can be produced on demand in this way, without having to rely on people to donate blood.
As the main researcher of collagen scaffold technology, Professor Cameron is very optimistic about the development potential of this technology. "In a sense, it can be used to make anything." "You can build highly complex organic tissue from a variety of different types of cells, such as the liver or pancreas, but it's a lot more difficult," she said. But in any case, the potential of this technology is enormous, both for researchers
