Collagen fibers constructed by gravity filament forming process.

Fibers comprised of reconstituted type I collagen were prepared by a gravity filament forming process and crosslinked with 0.1% glutaraldehyde. These fibers have a crosslinking index of about 90% (89.89 +/- 1.82%) with higher denature temperature (74.43 +/- 0.08 degrees C) as compared to that without glutaraldehyde treatment (52.1 +/- 0.17 degrees C). The ultimate tensile strength of the collagen fibers increases from 99.4 +/- 12.9 to 174.4 +/- 9.0 MPa after glutaraldehyde-crosslinking. L929 fibroblast cells were seeded and cultured using these newly developed collagen fibers. The fibroblast cells proliferated well and covered all surface areas of the collagen fiber. These collagen fibers have a great potential for application in 3-D tissue engineering.