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Updated: Mar 6, 2026

Microengineering 3D Collagen Hydrogels with Long-Range Fiber Alignment
Published on: September 7, 2022
A magnetic multi-enzyme nanoplatform for high-purity collagen preparation through efficient contaminant protein
Zibing Zeng1,2, Wenhao Guo1,2, Nannan Wei1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Natural Product Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, P. R. China. caixd@lzu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
The widespread application of collagen in biomedical and tissue engineering is significantly constrained by the co-extraction of non-collagenous proteins during isolation, which compromises its functional integrity and safety profile. Conventional purification techniques are frequently characterized by inefficiency and operational complexity. To overcome these limitations, we developed MagMEN, a magnetic multi-enzyme purification platform integrating magnetic trypsin, pepsin, bromelain, and papain. MagMEN demonstrates exceptional stability under diverse challenging conditions, maintaining robust performance across a broad pH spectrum and in the presence of organic solvents. The platform facilitates convenient magnetic separation and exhibits outstanding reusability, retaining 89.18% ± 3.48% of its initial enzymatic activity after ten consecutive cycles. Moreover, it achieves a collagen purification efficiency of 93.42% ± 0.66%, selectively degrading contaminant proteins while preserving the native triple-helical structure of collagen. The successful implementation of MagMEN for the preparation of high-purity collagen establishes an efficient, safe, and sustainable purification strategy, though its application in the scalable production of collagen warrants further investigation.

