Human brain is the main epicenter of the central nervous system (CNS) and it controls the most vital tasks of the body. Structurally the CNS along with the spinal cord is chiefly made up of thick collagen fibers. Factually collagen is present in all mammals, both at intracellular and extracellular level. It constitutes 20-30% of all body proteins in humans.
Collagen is classified as hydrogel, which are the polymers that have the capacity of storing large amounts of water molecules. Hydrogels are of prime interest for the repair of the CNS, as they can be conveniently placed into soft nervous tissues due to their similar properties.
Collagen as a biomaterial has increasingly become a focus of research on neuro-regeneration and neuro-protection. Collagen is quite a promising natural biomaterial, which has the potential to empower the developmental progress of therapeutic strategies applied for degeneration in central nervous system injuries. Collagen being remarkably versatile, non-toxic, biodegradable and biocompatible qualifies as a high potential biomaterial, in terms of brain repair.
Lab made collagen scaffolds (CollScaff) can be efficiently loaded with therapeutically active drugs and released in a manner of degradation. CollScaff and collagen microspheres (Hydrogel) loaded with therapeutic substances have a great potential in a safely efficient treatment of various neurodegenerative conditions and other CNS disorders such as stroke and traumatic brain injury. It has also worked well in the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and brain tumor.
Many brain functions are due to the extracellular matrix proteins (from collagen). Genetic mutations in several family members cause neurological diseases. It is not yet known how collagen promoted brain function, but loss of the gene encoding this collagen has been linked to familial schizophrenia.
New findings are coming in whereby collagen may be helpful in helping patients with mental disorders. According to a paper published in The Journal of Cell Biology: by promoting the formation of neuronal synapses, a peptide generated from a collagen protein may protect the brain from schizophrenia.
Thus, collagen as a natural biomaterial presents extraordinary prospects with regards to both repair and regeneration of the CNS, which indeed are worth investigating.
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