Preparation of collagen/poly(L-lactic acid) composite material for wound dressing

Collagen is the major structural protein of connective tissues It can be used as a prosthetic biomaterial applicable to artificial skin, tendon, ligaments, and collagen implants. The objective of this study is to investigate the possibility of realizing wound dressing medical products by the synthesis of composite materials with collagen and a biodegradable polymer, PLLA, via a surface modification process. Type I collagen was obtained from pig skin by a separation process. The structural characteristics of the extracted collagen were confirmed by SIDS-polyacrylamide (PAcr) gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and FTIR. Also, PLLA-g-PAcr was synthesized by the radical polymerization of acrylamide initiated by AIBN in the presence of PLLA. The surface of PLLA was modified by the presence of the acrylamide residues. The structural characteristics of the copolymer were analyzed by FTIR, H-1-NMR and contact angle measurements. The water uptake and WVTR of the collagen/PLLA-g-PAcr composite tended to increase with increasing collagen concentration and with decreasing EDC concentration.