(563e) Controlled Alignment of Collagen and its Influence on the Proliferation of Human Schwann Cells

Collagen is a key component of the extracellular matrix and well-oriented domains of collagen are relevant for mimicking the local cell environment in vitro. While there has been significant attention directed towards the alignment of collagen, formation of large-scale oriented domains remains a key challenge. Type I collagen self-assembles to form liquid crystalline (LC) mesophases in acidic conditions at concentrations above 50 mg/ml. The LC mesophase provides an efficient platform for large-scale alignment and patterning of collagen coated substrates. However, several questions remain regarding the self-assembly of collagen which results in the formation of the LC phase. In addition, there exist challenges related to solubilizing and processing of collagen at high concentrations.

In this contribution we report on centimeter-scale alignment in collagen-coated glass substrates using solutions that are well below the LC forming concentrations. We explain the formation of these uniform domains via shear-induced liquid crystallinity of the collagen solutions. We characterize the proliferation of human Schwann cells along the direction of alignment of the collagen-coated substrates.