A Review of the Effects of Collagen Treatment in Clinical Studies

Abstract

Collagen, an abundant extracellular matrix protein, has been found to have a lot of pharmaceuticals, medicine, food, and cosmetics applications. Increased knowledge of collagen sources, extraction techniques, structure, and properties in the last decades has helped develop more collagen-based products and tissue engineering biomaterials. Collagen products have been playing an important role in benefiting the health of the human body, especially for aging people. In this paper, the effects of collagen treatment in different clinical studies including skin regeneration, bone defects, sarcopenia, wound healing, dental therapy, gastroesophageal reflux, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis have been reviewed. The collagen treatments were significant in these clinical studies. In addition, the associations between these diseases were discussed. The comorbidity of these diseases might be closely related to collagen deficiency, and collagen treatment might be a good choice when a patient has more than one of these diseases, including the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It concludes that collagen-based medication is useful in treating comorbid diseases and preventing complications.

Characterization of Five Collagenous Biomaterials by SEM Observations, TG-DTA, Collagenase Dissolution Tests and Subcutaneous Implantation Tests

“…The obtained results in this in vitro study seemed to be consistent with the previous study [ 10 ], that the resorption time of the non-cross-linked material was longer than the cross-linked materials for clinical use. Therefore, the dermis-type materials appear to be suitable for wound healing of soft tissues, while the membrane materials could be applied to bone augmentation from the standpoint of the material longevity in vivo and regenerative capability of collagen for both soft and hard tissues [ 1 , 2 ].…”

“…Collagen is the oldest and most plentiful extracellular matrix protein that has found many uses in food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and biomedical industries [ 1 , 2 ]. Especially, collagen has been widely employed in the medical fields including artificial skin in dermatology, heart valves and vessel replacement in cardiovascular surgery, hernia repair, adhesion barriers and tissue adhesives in general surgery, nerve conduits and repair in neurosurgery, vitreous replacement and retinal reattachment in ophthalmology, bone repair and cartilage repair in orthopedics, ureter replacement, renal repair and dialysis membrane in urology [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ] and dental fields including epidermal regeneration, periodontal attachment and alveolar ridge augmentation [ 10 ].…”

“…As for GBR membranes, polylactide based polymer as well as collagen was used, and attention was paid to these two biomaterials [ 18 ]. Gel and fiber scaffolds consisting of collagen have been applied for bone regeneration in clinical trials [ 1 , 2 ]. In vivo, the sponge-like dermis materials stay for at least 4 weeks in humans, while the membranous materials remain for about 6 to 24 weeks [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”

“…Briefly, atelocollagen or purified type I collagen fibers were dispersed in an acidic media (pH 2.5), homogenized, filtered, reconstituted (pH 7), dehydrated, compressed, freeze dried, cross-linked (or not done), sized, packaged, and sterilized [ 28 ]. As a result of the complicated manufacturing process, many variations take place in physical, chemical, and biological properties of collagenous biomaterials [ 1 , 2 ]. The manufacturing process from animal skins and tendons usually consists of decellularization, acid solubilization, (not often, alkaline treatment), salt precipitate, filtration, dialysis, (some-times, gel column separation, and electrophoresis) with repeated steps, and all sequential steps could be sources in variations of properties of collagen [ 1 , 2 , 28 ].…”

“…As a result of the complicated manufacturing process, many variations take place in physical, chemical, and biological properties of collagenous biomaterials [ 1 , 2 ]. The manufacturing process from animal skins and tendons usually consists of decellularization, acid solubilization, (not often, alkaline treatment), salt precipitate, filtration, dialysis, (some-times, gel column separation, and electrophoresis) with repeated steps, and all sequential steps could be sources in variations of properties of collagen [ 1 , 2 , 28 ]. The manufacturing process and alteration in properties of collagen is highly dependent on the manufacturers.…”