title: A simple combined floating and anchored collagen gel for enhancing mechanical strength of culture system.
abstract: In this study, a simple combined method consisting of floating and anchored collagen gel in a ligament or tendon equivalent culture system was used to produce the oriented fibrils in fibroblast-populated collagen matrices (FPCMs) during the remodeling and contraction of the collagen gel. Orientation of the collagen fibrils along single axis occurred over the whole area of the floating section and most of the fibroblasts were elongated and aligned along the oriented collagen fibrils, whereas no significant orientation of fibrils was observed in normally contracted FPCMs by the floating method. Higher elasticity and enhanced mechanical strength were obtained using our simple method compared with normally contracted floating FPCMs. The Young's modulus and the breaking point of the FPCMs were dependent on the initial cell densities. This simple method will be applied as a convenient bioreactor to study cellular processes of the fibroblasts in the tissues with highly oriented fibrils such as ligaments or tendons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan. iharada@bio.titech.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Sung-Gon
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chong Su
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kurosawa
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akaike
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry; D046508:Culture Techniques; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology*; D005782:Gels; D008022:Ligaments / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D041701:Swiss 3T3 Cells; D013710:Tendons / Q000166:cytology; D013718:Tensile Strength; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D003094:Collagen