Temperature Control During Fibrillogenesis Allows for Improved Magnetic Alignment of Collagen

Osteoarthritis (OA), commonly known as ‘wear and tear’ in human joints, affects over 27 million people in the United States [1]. There is currently no encompassing solution for the regeneration of damaged articular cartilage. One potential solution involves the close emulation of the native structure of articular cartilage, with special consideration given to maintaining the distinct organized zonal ultrastructure, characterized by both random and highly aligned zones of collagen fibrils, in order to preserve mechanical and cell signaling properties of the extracellular matrix [2]. Techniques such as electrospinning achieve high degrees of alignment, but do so at the cost of denaturing the collagen molecule [3] that may lead to inferior cell recognition and mechanical strength.