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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Preparation of 3D Collagen Gels and Microchannels for the Study of 3D Interactions In Vivo
Published on: May 9, 2016
Effects of Cr3+ on the structure of collagen fiber
Bo Wu1, Changdao Mu, Guangzhao Zhang
1Department of Pharmaceutics and Bioengineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Clean Technology of Leather Manufacture, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Abstract:
We have investigated the effects of Cr3+ on the hierarchical structure of pigskin collagen fibers by use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), confocal laser micro-Raman spectroscopy (CLRS), and circular dichroism (CD). Our results demonstrate that the introduction of Cr3+ leads to the formation of a cluster of 20-40 nm between collagen fibrils, while the unique axial periodic structure (D periodicity) of the fibrils does not change. As the Cr3+ concentration increases, the order of intermolecular lateral packing, crystallite structure within helical chains, and N and C telopeptide regions decrease. The present study reveals that Cr3+ only cross-links with collagen but does not disrupt its triple helical structure.
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