Semipermeable barrier-assisted electrophoretic deposition of robust collagen membranes

Collagen membranes with high robustness and a defined stable biodegradation are of a great interest for dental surgery. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a perspective candidate technology for their production, and in this article, the authors demonstrated the capabilities of its modification, a semipermeable barrier-assisted EPD (SBA-EPD). The SBA-EPD process was carried out at 60 V for 1,2, or 3 cycles 20 min each, after which the obtained membranes were crosslinked with 0.625% genipin. SBA-EPD allowed for the fabrication of membranes with high collagen packing density (0.0012 g/mm 3 ) and high robustness, which depended on the number of SBA-EPD cycles. The highest Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and strain at failure values of non-crosslinked samples corresponded to 3-cycle deposition (15.11 ± 1.78 MPa, 4.2 ± 1.6 MPa, 60 ± 12%, respectively). However, crosslinking diminished the statistical difference of these parameters among membranes of different deposition cycles (reaching for 3-cycle deposition 64 ± 5 MPa, 9.5 ± 1.1 MPa, 23.7 ± 2.0%, respectively). On day 21 after subcutaneous implantation, the non-crosslinked membranes showed a significant degree of resorption higher than that of crosslinked ones by 3.5 times in absolute values. As well, crosslinked membranes elicited a greater peri-implant pro-fibrotic and giant cell response. Overall, the mechanical characteristics of SBA-EPD membranes were mostly superior to commercially available products used for dental applications, while their biodegradation timeframes fitted the optimal window. The authors hope that their research will attract the attention to SBA-EPD as an emerging and perspective technology for the production of robust and defect-free collagen membranes for dental surgery. Graphical abstract