Collagen Solution from Bovine

Collagen Solutions are highly purified (predominantly Type I) solutions especially prepared for Tissue Culture applications. Collagen Solutions may be used to prepare a collagen coating on plastic or glass culture dishes, or to prepare actual collagen gels for culture work. Since collagen plays an important role in cell culture by maintaining the physical function of cell support or attachment, the Collagen Solutions provide a convenient, efficient way to put a uniform collagen coating in culture dishes. The actual collagen "fiber" that is formed has been shown to be very effective, for example, in maintaining the albumin-producing function of hepatocytes cultured on it. Type I collagen is a major structural component of skin, bone, tendon, and other fibrous connective tissues, and differs from other collagens by its low lysine hydroxylation and low carbohydrate composition. Although a number of types of collagen have been identified, all are composed of molecules containing three Polypeptide chains arranged in a triple helical conformation. Slight differences in the primary structure (amino acid sequence) establish differences between the types. The amino acid sequence of the primary structure is mainly a repeating motif with glycine in every third position with proline or 4-hydroxyproline frequently preceeding the glycine residue. Type I collagen is a heterotrimer composed of two a1(I) chains and one a2(I) chain, which spontaneously form a triple helix scaffold at neutral pH and 37°C.

Collagen Solutions is used to form actual culture gels, and human fibroblasts cultured in these gels are able to condense the collagen to a corium-like structure by cell contraction. A highly purified collagen solution suitable for 3-D matrix formation in cell culture.

In 3D environments, cell extensions can use integrins on cell surfaces to activate specific signaling pathways and integran-independent mechanical interactions resulting from the entanglement of matrix fibrils is possible.