Preparation of Collagen/Aspartic Acid Nanocomposite Fibers and Their Self-Assembly Behaviors

ABSTRACT

Collagen is a promising biomaterial with excellent biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, and good biodegradability. However, the poor mechanical properties of regenerated collagen fibers, which are susceptible to thermal denaturation and rapid degradation, remain a substantial challenge. In this work, aspartic acid (Asp) was incorporated to improve the performance of collagen fibers. The self-assembly behavior of collagen molecules in the presence of Asp was investigated, and the structure and properties of the collagen/Asp composite fibers were discussed. Their results showed that there are strong molecular interactions between the negatively charged Asp and the positively charged collagen molecules in acidic conditions. The mechanical properties and thermal stability of composite fibers are significantly improved compared with those of pure collagen fibers. Electrostatic interactions are the main factors affecting the self-assembly structure of collagen molecules, the alignment of collagen microfibrils, and the mechanical and thermal performances of composite fibers. This work provides a simple and environmentally friendly pathway to generate collagen-based fiber materials with better properties and has the potential to be used in a variety of biomedical applications.

摘要

胶原具有良好的生物相容性、低免疫原性和良好的生物降解性, 是一种很有前途的生物材料. 然而, 再生胶原纤维的力学性能较差, 容易发生热变性和快速降解, 仍然是一个重大挑战. 在这项工作中, 天冬氨酸(Asp)的加入, 以改善胶原纤维的性能, 研究了胶原分子在Asp存在下的自组装行为, 讨论了胶原/Asp复合纤维的结构和性能, 他们的结果表明, 在酸性条件下, 带负电的Asp和带正电的胶原分子之间存在强烈的分子相互作用, 与纯胶原纤维相比, 复合纤维的力学性能和热稳定性显著提高, 静电相互作用是影响胶原分子自组装结构、胶原微纤维排列以及复合纤维力学和热性能的主要因素, 这项工作提供了一个简单和环境友好的途径,以生成性能更好的胶原基纤维材料, 并有可能用于各种生物医学应用.

关键词:

• 胶原蛋白
• 天冬氨酸
• 纤维
• 自组装
• 静电相互作用
• 机械性能

KEYWORDS:

• Collagen
• aspartic acid
• fibers;
• self-assembly;
• electrostatic interaction
• mechanical properties

Highlights

• The molecular interactions between the negatively charged aspartic acid and the positively charged collagen molecules promote the self-assembly behavior of collagen molecules under certain conditions.

• A link is established between collagen self-assembly behavior and the performance of collagen fibers prepared by wet spinning.

• Aspartic acid strengthens collagen fibers by promoting self-assembly behavior during wet spinning.

• The maximum tensile strength of collagen composite fibers can reach 1.74 cN/dtex.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Project of Tianjin Education Commission [grant numbers 2019ZD04]

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Project of Tianjin Education Commission [grant number 2019ZD04].