Comparisons of collagen gel and collagen matrix as cell growth microenvironment: the physical-chemical properties

To evaluate the changes of gel scaffold and spongy scaffold in fibroblast culture in vitro, two kinds of collagen dermis were constructed in this research. Type I collagenase and Dispase were used to isolate dermis fibroblast from neonate prepuce. The gel dermis was constructed by mixing the fibroblast and collagen swelling solution, and the collagen spongy dermis was also constructed. After histological and immunohistochemical staining, these two dermis' properties were compared. Compared with gel dermis, the spongy dermis possessed more superior tension strength, but it decreased significantly during the culture. The transition temperature in DSC reduced also. The rupture length of gel dermis increased, on the contrary. Gel dermis contained more moisture than spongy dermis. It had been observed that the collagen gel was more suitable for fibroblast in maintaining its morphology than spongy scaffold, though with less cell number. The reason might be due to the special structure of collagen gel. Water in gel is sub-bound water, which is different from free water, and it is suitable for fibroblasts to secrete extracellular matrix. It could be concluded that the collagen gel dermis is better than collagen spongy dermis in the biological property.