Calcified Tissue International

, Volume 31, Issue 1, pp 257–259 | Cite as

Piezoelectricity in collagen films

  • Andrew A. Marino
  • Joseph A. Spadaro
  • Eiichi Fukada
  • Leo D. Kahn
  • R. O. Becker
Article
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Summary

Tissue collagen exhibits several levels of structural organization, and this complicates efforts to determine the origin of its piezoelectricity. We made collagen films—by evaporation and electrodeposition from solution—and examined the relation between collagen's piezoelectricity and its electron microscopic appearance. We found that the electrodeposited films were more organized and exhibited higher piezoelectric coefficients than the evaporated films. Despite this, the evaporated films were piezoelectric, thereby suggesting that the effect originates either at the level of the tropocollagen molecule or, at most, with aggregated structures no larger than 50 Å in diameter.

Key words

Piezoelectricity Collagen 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1980

Authors and Affiliations

  • Andrew A. Marino
    • 1
  • Joseph A. Spadaro
    • 1
  • Eiichi Fukada
    • 2
  • Leo D. Kahn
    • 3
  • R. O. Becker
    • 1
  1. 1.Veterans Administration Medical CenterSyracuseUSA
  2. 2.Rikagaku Kenkyusho, The Institute of Physical and Chemical ResearchSaitamaJapan
  3. 3.Eastern Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research ServiceU.S. Dept. of AgriculturePhiladelphiaUSA

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