COLLAGEN PRODUCTION BY RAT TENDON FIBROBLASTS CULTURED ON CARBON FILAMENT AND ON STANDARD CULTURE PLATES.

A filamentous carbon absorbable polymer composite has been used as a tissue scaffold material for the repair of tendon and ligament trauma in both animals and man. As the polymer absorbs, tendon or ligament cells grow into the carbon fiber scaffold, orient parallel to the 8 mu m diameter fibers and produce new collagen. The resulting structure resembles normal tendon or ligament tissue both mechanically and histologically. This study is part of a series of in-vitro experiments designed to characterize rat tendon fibroblast (RTF) cell response to carbon fiber scaffold material. Studies of the growth rates of RTF cells cultured on carbon fiber indicated that substrate geometric configuration influenced cell growth rates**5. This study consists of duplicate experiments designed to examine the collagen synthesis rates of RTF cells cultured on carbon fiber substrates and on standard culture plates.