Collagen is the most abundant structural protein in mammalian tissue and plays a major structural role in all parts of the body. Mechanical properties of native collagen, typically found in tissue, have been reported, but there are other collagen aggregates that have received scant attention, namely fibrous long spacing (FLS) collagen and segmental long spacing (SLS) collagen. The three collagen aggregates have distinct morphologies, indicating different monomer alignment, and thus are expected to have varying mechanical properties. In this study, nanoindentation by atomic force microscopy was used to measure the reduced elastic modulus of the three types of collagen aggregates assembled in vitro from monomers. FLS collagen, often associated with diseased-tissues, was found to have lower reduced elastic modulus compared to the other forms. Such results potentially highlight the difference in structural support in FLS-associated diseased tissues compared to normal tissues.

Mechanical investigations of type I collagen constructs via atomic force microscope nanoindentation

248th National Meeting (2014)

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