Collagen type I from bovine bone. Effect of animal age, bone anatomy and drying methodology on extraction yield, self-assembly, thermal behaviour and electrokinetic potential

Naturalcollageniseasilyavailablefromanimaltissuessuchasbones.Mainlimitationsreportedintheuseofnaturalcollagenareheterogeneityandlossofintegrityduringrecovery.However,itsnaturalcomplexity,functionalityandbioactivitystillremaintobeachievedthroughsyntheticandrecombinantways.Variabilityofphysicochemicalpropertiesofcollagenextractedfrombovinebonebyaceticacidwastheninvestigatedtakingintoaccountendogenousandexogenousfactors.Endogenous:bovine’sbonesage(4and7years)andanatomy(femurandtibia);exogenous:thermaltreatments(spray-dryingandlyophilisation).Scanningelectronmicroscopy,spectroscopy(EDS,FTIR,UV/VisandCD),differentialscan-ningcalorimetry(DSC),centesimalcomposition,massspectrometry,aminoacidsandzeta-potentialanalysiswereusedforthepurpose.Agecorrelatednegativelywithyieldofrecoveryandpositivelywithmineralsandproteoglycanscon-tent.Comparingtheanatomy,higheryieldswerefoundfortibias,andhigherstabilityoftibiascollageninsolutionwasnoticed.Whatevertheageandtheanatomy,collagenswereabletorenatureandtoself-assembleintotri-dimensionalstructures.Nonethelessthermalstabilityandkineticsofrenaturationweredifferent.Variabilityofnaturalcollagenwithboneageandanatomy,anddryingmethodology,maybeacrucialadvantagetoconceivetailor-madeapplicationsineitherthebiologicalortechnicalsector