Collagen is one of the most common materials used to form scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. The multi-channel collagen gel (MCCG) obtained by the dialysis of an acidic collagen solution in a neutral buffer solution has a unique structure, with many capillaries of diameters several tens to a few hundred micrometers, and could be a potential candidate as a biomimetic scaffold for three-dimensional tissue engineering. In the present study, the formation of MCCG was investigated by in situ rheological measurements based on a particle tracking method (particle tracking microrheology, PTM). PTM enabled us to measure changes in the rheological properties of collagen solutions under the continuous exchange of substances during dialysis. When an observation plane was set perpendicular to the direction of gel growth, we first observed convectional flow of the collagen solution, followed by phase separation and gelation. We showed that the structure of the MCCG originated from the transient structure formed during the initial stage of viscoelastic phase separation and was fixed by the subsequent gelation.

中文翻译：

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使用粒子追踪微流变学研究多通道胶原凝胶的形成

胶原蛋白是用于形成组织工程应用支架的最常见材料之一。通过在中性缓冲溶液中透析酸性胶原蛋白溶液获得的多通道胶原蛋白凝胶（MCCG）具有独特的结构，具有许多直径几十到几百微米的毛细血管，是一种潜在的仿生材料。用于三维组织工程的支架。在本研究中，MCCG 的形成是通过原位研究基于粒子追踪方法（粒子追踪微流变学，PTM）的流变测量。PTM 使我们能够测量在透析过程中物质连续交换下胶原溶液流变学特性的变化。当观察平面垂直于凝胶生长方向时，我们首先观察到胶原溶液的对流，然后是相分离和凝胶化。我们表明，MCCG 的结构起源于粘弹性相分离初始阶段形成的瞬态结构，并通过随后的凝胶化而固定。