Hierarchical Assembly of Collagen-Like Peptides in vitro Provides Structural Causes of Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Collagen type I peptides, representative of native to disease states for the bone disease, Osteogenesis imperfecta, were studied with regard to self-assembly into triple helices and liquid crystalline mesophases. The purpose of the study was to establish insight into collagen mutations in terms of propagation of single chain defects up the scale of materials hierarchy, toward solid state fibril assemblies formed from collagen. Studies carried out in vitro demonstrated the value of this approach in establishing in vitro disease models, as the degree of collagen disruption could be recapitulated by the point mutations to show major impact on macroscopic features. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, circular dichroism, atomic force microscopy and optical ellipsometry were used to assess the structural and morphological changes at the various length scales post assembly. The results demonstrated that glycine to alanine to aspartic acid single substitutions in the collagen peptides progressively disrupted normal assembly, reflected in lower thermal stability, loss of triple helical structure and loss of mesophase formation. This approach can provide a basis upon which to study collagen biomaterial templates for controlled hydroxyapatite formation and changes in cell signaling related to bone remodeling, related to the severity of the disease.