Influence of collagen source on fibrillar architecture and properties of vitrified collagen membranes.

Collagen vitrigel membranes are transparent biomaterials characterized by a densely organized, fibrillar nanostructure that show promise in the treatment of corneal injury and disease. In this study, the influence of different type I collagen sources and processing techniques, including acid-solubilized collagen from bovine dermis (Bov), pepsin-solubilized collagen from human fibroblast cell culture (HuCC), and ficin-solubilized collagen from recombinant human collagen expressed in tobacco leaves (rH), on the properties of the vitrigel membranes was evaluated. Postvitrification carbodiimide crosslinking (CX) was also carried out on the vitrigels from each collagen source, forming crosslinked counterparts BovXL, HuCCXL, and rHXL, respectively.