Crosslinking of collagen scaffolds with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide

POLY 29

Amran Asadi1, Yuping Li, yuping@ufl.edu2, and Elliot P. Douglas, edoug@mse.ufl.edu2. (1) Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, (2) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116400, Gainesville, FL 32611
As a major structural component of the human body, collagen has been widely investigated as a substrate for engineering biologically based tissue replacements and grafts. Crosslink density has been shown to have an important effect on important biomaterials properties such as mechanical strength and degradation rate. Means of controlling crosslink density within a collagen network could be an integral tool in the creation of novel biomaterials. This work seeks to identify and manipulate the factors associated with crosslinking so as to be able to achieve any number of desired crosslink densities. Crosslink densities between 10 and 50 percent were obtained via an EDC/NHS coupling reaction by varying four parameters between high and low values. A factorial model was developed, and factors were analyzed for significance and inclusion. The correlation (R2) between observed and predicted values was determined to be .89, with residuals distributed evenly between slight over- and slight under-prediction.
 

Undergraduate Research in Polymer Science
8:15 AM-12:00 PM, Sunday, April 6, 2008 Hilton New Orleans Riverside -- Grand Salon 16, Oral

Division of Polymer Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008