Tissues and organs in living organisms represent centimeter-scale hierarchical architectures comprising nano- to microscale, uniaxially aligned extracellular matrix (ECM) fibres with high mechanical strength, integrated with cellular components, as exemplified in tendon, skin, cartilage, bone, and blood vessels. Here, we present a liquid-liquid interfacial spinning method to produce highly uniaxially aligned, centimeter-scale collagen fibres. The dried fibres exhibit exceptional mechanical properties, with fracture strength of 280 MPa, Young' s modulus of 6 GPa, and toughness of 17 MJ m-3, comparable to spider silk and tendon collagen, and exceeding supramolecular and double-network hydrogels. Incorporating living cells into the collagen solution yielded centimeter-scale, cell-laden aligned fibres, with densely adherent, uniaxially aligned cells and over 80% viability. Myoblast-laden fibres recapitulate biological features of fibrotic muscle tissues, as observed in type II diabetes. Interfacial collagen assembly further enables fabrication of dimension-controlled constructs, like 2D sheets, 0D capsules, and 1D tubes, thus providing modular building blocks for centimeter-scale 3D tissues and organ-like structures. This approach offers a versatile platform to engineer mechanically robust, cell-laden tissues with controlled hierarchical architecture.
Yamada, A., Hattori, K., Watanabe, A., Shang, Y., Pich, A., Kitano, S., Matsusaki, M.
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