Scientists discover new method to grow synthetic collagen
Scientists at Rice University have discovered a new method to produce synthetic collagen. This new discovery represents new opportunities for reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. The synthetic collagen is a helpful tool in developing organs from stem cells and for regenerating new tissues.
The lead author of an article that commented on the new discovery in Nature Chemistry, Jeffrey Hartgerink says that the new synthetic collagen presents two main advantages. One of them is that the end product, the synthetic collagen surpasses any man made collagen because it resembles very well with our natural collage. The other great advantage is that the process through which it is obtained is a self-assembly process that resembles very well with other processes found in nature.
Our bodies are made of many elements and of them are proteins. Collagen as it happens is the most common protein. It lies at the foundation for building many types of tissues such as skin, tendons, blood vessels, ligaments and cartilage. Researchers who try to obtain tissues grown in the laboratory often use a combination of collagen-like materials and stem cells because it carries almost no risk for the patient's body to reject it.
Today, plastic surgeons often use animal-derived collagen in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery even though it bares many immunological risks. The animal-derived collagen is also used in various cosmetics.
Our bodies are full of collagen and yet researchers have not been able to find a way to duplicate this material not to mention deciphering it. An illustrative example of how collagen works would be the rope. A rope is made of countless interwoven threads much like collagen fibers which are made of millions of proteins, also known as peptides. These collagen fibers can from various structures called hydrogels that can contain water. Hartgerink says that their new synthetic collagen forms in the same manner except that they use shorter peptides.
The synthetic collagen is in its early stages and cannot yet become a substitute for medical use on humans as many tests are yet to be done. But the good news is that this new type of synthetic collagen has overcome a big problem which is the enzyme which our body uses to break down native collagen. Tests have shown that both natural collagen as well as the synthetic one is broken down by the enzyme at similar speeds.
Add comment January 27th, 2006
