An electrochemical fabrication process for the assembly of anisotropically oriented collagen bundles

Controlled assembly of collagen molecules in vitro remains a major challenge for fabricating the next generation of engineered tissues. Here we present a novel electrochemical alignment technique to control the assembly of type-I collagen molecules into highly oriented and densely packed elongated bundles at the macroscale. The process involves application of electric currents to collagen solutions which in turn generate a pH gradient. Through an isoelectric focusing process, the molecules migrate and congregate within a plane. It was possible to fabricate collagen bundles with 50–400 μm diameter and several inches length via this process. The current study assessed the orientational order, and the presence of fibrillar assembly in such electrochemically oriented constructs by polarized optical microscopy, small angle X-ray scattering, second harmonic generation, and electron microscopy. The mechanical strength of the aligned crosslinked collagen bundles was 30-fold greater than its randomly oriented-crosslinked counterpart. Aligned crosslinked collagen bundles had about half the strength of the native tendon. Tendon-derived fibroblast cells were able to migrate and populate multiple macroscopic bundles at a rate of 0.5 mm/day. The anisotropic order within biocompatible collagenous constructs was conferred upon the nuclear morphology of cells as well. These results indicate that the electrochemically oriented collagen scaffolds carry baseline characteristics to be considered for tendon/ligament repair.