Blends Based on Collagen

Blends based on collagen without chemical modification with natural or synthetic polymers, or hybrid materials prepared with inorganic component in the form of nanoparticles or bulk material, can have great potential application in pharmaceutical areas due to their ability to mimic the extracellular matrix both morphologically and chemically (also see Table 13.3). Reasons for preparation of collagen-based blends are related to improvement of collagen properties, low cost of preparation method, simplification or improvement of preparation technology, etc. 

Magnetic, bioactive glass, hydroxyapatite and metal nanoparticles are currently used in blends with collagen [28]. 

Some properties of collagen materials, especially their mechanical strength and thermal stability, could be effectively improved by adding other components. 

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