Electrospinning of Collagen Nanofibers

Electrospinning is a fabrication process that uses an electric field to control the deposition of polymer fibers onto a target substrate. This electrostatic processing strategy can be used to fabricate fibrous polymer mats composed of fiber diameters ranging from several microns down to 100 nm or less. In this study, we describe how electrospinning can be adapted to produce tissue-engineering scaffolds composed of collagen nanofibers. Optimizing conditions for calfskin type I collagen produced a matrix composed of 100 nm fibers that exhibited the 67 nm banding pattern that is characteristic of native collagen. The structural properties of electrospun collagen varied with the tissue of origin (type I from skin…