A Novel Collagen Aerogel with Relevant Features for Topical Biomedical Applications

• Published in: ChemPlusChem (Weinheim, Germany) Germany), 2024-07, Vol.89 (7), p.e202400122-n/a
• Main Authors: Batista, Miguel P., Schroeter, Baldur, Fernández, Naiara, Gaspar, Frédéric Bustos, Rosário Bronze, Maria, Duarte, Ana Rita, Gurikov, Pavel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collagen tertiary structure; physicochemical characterization; Porous biomaterials; Solid-state; Supercritical CO2 drying
• ISSN: 2192-6506; 2192-6506
• DOI: 10.1002/cplu.202400122

Collagen‐based aerogels have great potential for topical biomedical applications. Collagen's natural affinity with skin, biodegradability, and gelling behavior are compelling properties to combine with the structural integrity of highly porous matrices in the dry form (aerogels). This work aimed to produce a novel collagen‐based aerogel and to perform the material‘s solid‐state and physicochemical characterization. Aerogels were obtained by performing different solvent exchange approaches of a collagen‐gelled extract and drying the obtained alcogels with supercritical CO2. The resulting aerogels showed a sponge‐like structure with a relatively dense mesoporous network with a specific surface area of 201–203 m2/g, a specific pore volume of 1.08–1.15 cm3/g, and a mean pore radius of ca. 14.7 nm. Physicochemical characterization confirmed that the obtained aerogels are composed of pure collagen, and the aerogel production process does not impact protein tertiary structure. Finally, the material swelling behavior was assessed at various pH values (4, 7, and 10). Collagen aerogels presented a high water uptake capacity up to ~2700 wt. %, pH‐dependent stability, and swelling behavior in aqueous media. The results suggest that this collagen aerogel could be a promising scaffold candidate for topical biomedical applications. The study investigated the production of a novel collagen aerogel obtained through solvent exchange and supercritical CO2 drying of a gelled marine collagen extract for potential topical biomedical applications. Morphology and textural analysis confirmed the obtention of a novel collagen aerogel, and physicochemical analysis revealed no impact of the aerogel production process on collagen tertiary structure.