title: Nanorod mediated collagen scaffolds as extra cellular matrix mimics.
abstract: Creating collagen scaffolds that mimic extracellular matrices without using toxic exogenous materials remains a big challenge. A new strategy to create scaffolds through end-to-end crosslinking through functionalized nanorods leading to well-designed architecture is presented here. Self-assembled scaffolds with a denaturation temperature of 110 °C, porosity of 70%, pore size of 0.32 μm and Young's modulus of 231 MPa were developed largely driven by imine bonding between 3-mercapto-1-propanal (MPA) functionalized ZnO nanorods and collagen. The mechanical properties obtained were much higher than that of native collagen, collagen-MPA, collagen-3-mercapto-1-propanol (3MPOH) or collagen- 3-MPOH-ZnO, clearly bringing out the relevance of nanorod mediated assembly of fibrous networks. This new strategy has led to scaffolds with mechanical properties much higher than earlier reports and can provide support for cell growth and facilitation of cell attachment.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Laboratory, Central Leather Research Institute, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, India.
authors.forename: Mohan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vedhanayagam
authors.forename: Ranganathan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mohan
authors.forename: Balachandran Unni
authors.initials: BU
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Kalarical Janardhanan
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Sreeram
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D019245:Compressive Strength; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008422:Materials Testing; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D058608:Nanopores / Q000648:ultrastructure; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D016062:Porosity; D051381:Rats; D013718:Tensile Strength; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen; D015034:Zinc Oxide