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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

In vitro Synthesis of Native, Fibrous Long Spacing and Segmental Long Spacing Collagen
Published on: September 20, 2012
In vitro reconstitution of fibrillar collagen type I assemblies at reactive polymer surfaces
Katrin Salchert1, Uwe Streller, Tilo Pompe
1Institute of Polymer Research Dresden & The Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials Dresden, Hohe Strasse 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
Abstract:
The reconstitution of fibrillar collagen and its assemblies with heparin and hyaluronic acid was studied in vitro. Fibril formation kinetics were analyzed by turbidity and depletion measurements in solutions containing varied concentrations of collagen and glycosaminoglycans. Fibril-forming collagen solutions were further applied for the coating of planar substrates which had been modified with alternating maleic anhydride copolymer films before. The immobilized collagen assemblies were characterized with respect to the deposited amount of protein using ellipsometry and acidic hydrolysis/HPLC-based amino acid analysis, respectively. AFM, SEM, and cLSM were utilized to gain information on structural features and patterns formed by surface-attached fibrils depending on the initial solution concentrations of collagen. The results revealed that the addition of heparin and hyaluronic acid affected both the fibril dimensions and the meshwork characteristics of the surface-bound fibrils.
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