Membrane microchannel made of collagen with self-assembled micro fibril structures for tissue engineering

This paper describes a new strategy for regeneration of thick tissues in vitro by inserting artificial capillary network sheets made of vitrified collagen membrane between cell layers. The membrane microchannel sheet was fabricated by drying collagen gel on a template under centrifugal force. After sealing with another membrane, φ100μm microchannels made of 3μm-thick vitrified collagen membrane were successfully fabricated. Since the process did not require chemical crosslinking or heating above denaturation temperature, the fabricated structure keeps natural collagen fibrils. The cyto-compatibility of the structure was confirmed by culturing HUVEC on the membrane.