The study of morphological structure, phase structure and molecular structure of collagen-PEO 600K blends for tissue engineering application

Abstract

A new material which is collagen/ poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) blend was developed to determine its possibility as a promising material for tissue scaffold. PEO with average molecular weight of 600,000 and collagen originated from calf skin were dispersed in 0.1 M acetic acid to prepare a concentration of 1 wt% for PEO and 0.15 wt% for collagen. The collagen-PEO600K blend film was then obtained by solution casting method. SEM results shown that by having certain ratio of collagen and PEO, the membrane began to developed porous structures which are possible to assist tissue attachment on the scaffold. The X-ray diffractograms demonstrate PEO 600K influences on the blend thus enhancing crystallinity of collagen. The Infra red spectrum shows intermolecular interactions of collagen and PEO which alter the collagen structure thus explained the membrane morphological changes. Therefore, we concluded that the phase structure and also the molecular structure of the blend are crucial to produce desirable morphological structure of the membrane which is required for a reliable tissue scaffold.