A Highly Specific\nand Versatile Biochip for Ultra-Sensitive\nQuantification of Denatured Collagen in Assessing Collagen Quality

Collagen, a widely used biomaterial, is susceptible to\ndenaturation\nduring production from native tissues, posing serious challenges for\nits applications in tissue engineering. Accurate quantification of\ndenatured collagen (DC) is essential for evaluating the quality of\ncollagen-based biomaterials, yet quantitative methods for assessing\ncollagen denaturation are lacking. Here, we for the first time present\na highly specific biochip for sensitive quantification of denatured\ncollagen levels (<i>L</i><sub>dc</sub>), addressing this\ncritical need in collagen quality analysis. The denatured collagen-specific\nchip (DCSC) features an intrinsically nontrimerizing peptide probe,\nF-GOP-14, targeting denatured collagen and a fully denatured collagen-coated\ncapture surface. The DCSC demonstrates exceptional sensitivity and\naccuracy in quantifying DC concentration (<i>C</i><sub>dc</sub>) and total collagen concentration (<i>C</i><sub>tc</sub>), enabling precise calculation of <i>L</i><sub>dc</sub>. Importantly, DCSC is versatile, detecting <i>L</i><sub>dc</sub> across various denaturing scenarios, including UV radiation,\nthermal environments, and decellularization. This denatured collagen-specific\nbiochip offers a robust method for accurately analyzing <i>L</i><sub>dc</sub>, with significant potential for enhancing collagen\nquality assessment in biomaterial development and production.