Honeycomb-Shaped Collagen Aerogels Formed Using a Multichannel Hydrogel as the Template

Abstract

This study introduces a novel method for fabricating multicavity, honeycomb-shaped collagen aerogels characterized by continuous pores. We have taken a unique approach to lyophilizing collagen hydrogels, which are UV-irradiated collagen solutions gelatinized in a carbonate buffer solution. The focus of this study was to investigate the effect of UV irradiation times on collagen solutions on collagen hydrogels and aerogels. This investigation revealed significant alterations in the morphological attributes, notably in the pore and short axis cross-sectional areas and the mechanical properties, particularly the elastic modulus, of the resultant collagen gels and aerogels. A notable increase in the ratio of the pore to the short-axis cross-sectional area was observed with extended UV exposure. Further, irrespective of the irradiation duration, we observed a consistent pattern of elongation and proliferation in mouse fibroblast cultures. These findings underscore the potential of our developed collagen aerogels as versatile biomaterials, especially in the realm of cell scaffolds.