Collagen type I is extensively employed in 3D cell culture and tissue engineering.This research investigates the impact of embedded microbeads of different types on the fibrillogenesis process in collagen type I hydrogels. Our findings reveal that the presence of microbeads within the collagen matrix alters the fibrillogenesis dynamics. Specifically, carboxylated fluorescent microbeads accelerate gelation by 3.6 times, while silica microbeads decelerate collagen fibril formation by a factor of 1.9, in comparison to pure collagen hydrogels. These observations suggest that carboxylate microbeads serve as nucleation sites, influencing the binding of early collagen fibrils to the microbeads.
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Ávila et al. (2024) studied this question.
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