Development of a Collagen Hydrogel with High Mechanical Strength by a Simple Orientation Method for Triple-helix

Abstract Collagen hydrogels with oriented triple-helix were fabricated simply via the axial orientation of a dense collagen solution onto a glass plate and cross-linking. The orientation of the collagen triple-helix in the gels was clearly confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurements. The tensile strength of the oriented collagen gels in parallel was twofold higher than that of non-oriented gels as a control. Our collagen gels with oriented triple-helix can be useful as novel scaffolds in the tissue engineering field.