Enhancing the mechanical properties of collagen by photo-chemical cross-linking

Cell survival within mechanically strong scaffolds is critical in the design of tissue engineered constructs. Collagen type I gels tend to be mechanically weak due to the low percentage of collagen with limited orientation and crosslinking. To enhance the properties of collagen type I gels we used the following approaches: a) plastically compress the collagen gel to increase the density and b) photochemically crosslink the gel using riboflavin as a photoinitiator and high intensity blue light. Following plastic compression both the collagen density and cell number increase 58-fold1. This study aims to assess mechanical properties and the degree of cell viability in different areas of the compressed gel following cross-linking. Patterns of cross-linking were also applied to induce anisotropic features to the gel