title: Bone matrix like assemblies of collagen: from liquid crystals to gels and biomimetic materials.
abstract: Skeletal tissues associate in close interaction, a dense organic matrix and a mineral network. In bone, the major structural protein is type I collagen, associated with inorganic crystals of hydroxyapatite. The three-dimensional arrangement of collagen fibrils in compact bone forms regularly ordered networks and a parallel was evidenced between these structures and molecular assemblies described in liquid crystals. Similar structures are now obtained in vitro. Indeed, when purified type I collagen is highly concentrated in an acid soluble state, the protein spontaneously assembles into ordered liquid crystalline phases. After a sol/gel transition triggered by pH increase, biomimetic materials are formed which resemble the exact compact bone matrix architecture over distances reaching centimetres and more. The properties of these highly ordered materials will be reviewed recalling their supramolecular arrangement and the corresponding patterns when visualised in polarised light microscopy (birefringence) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The association of inorganic phases (amorphous silica) to form chiral hybrid materials will also be described so as the behaviour of cells (fibroblast adhesion and migration) when seeded on these dense biomimetic matrices.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Chimie de la Matière Condensée, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Matériaux du Vivant, Université P & Marie Curie, CNRS-UMR 7574, 12 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France. mmgiraud@snv.jussieu.fr
authors.forename: Marie M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Giraud Guille
authors.forename: Gervaise
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mosser
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helary
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eglin
mesh_terms: D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D001857:Bone Matrix / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization; D010012:Osteogenesis; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D003094:Collagen