Please visit our distributors’ page to download an instruction manual

Most of the seeded cells attach onto MIGHTY, although the type of cell and the seeding method may have an effect.

Collagen Sponge Mighty has been used to house mechanically stimulated osteoblasts and chondrocytes as well as mesenchymal stem cells and dental pulp stem cells for bone transplantation. Cancer cells have also been seeded into the sponges and transplanted into mice. Additional examples of culture with other cell types are available (see list of publications on product page for details).

Collagen Sponge Mighty has been used to induce bone differentiation and transplant iPSCs.

Due to its toughness, harvesting live cells from MIGHTY is difficult. Homogenize the sponge vigorously and use extraction kits to obtain nucleic acids and/or proteins from cells grown in MIGHTY.

Similar to tissue samples, MIGHTY can be fixed and/or embedded in paraffin/OCT compound.

Collagen itself has blue autofluorescence. Therefore, fluorescent dyes in the yellow to red wavelengths are recommended to distinguish immunostains. For example, Lipi-Red and DRAQ5 could be used to stain adipocytes and nuclei, respectively. In H&E staining, collagen is stained reddish purple by eosin; it stains darker than the cytoplasm, so if you want to distinguish cells from collagen, consider Masson trichrome staining.

If the transplantation site can be incised, transplanting an atelocollagen product (sponge or membrane) with cells added is possible.
Atelocollagen products:
Collagen Sponge Honeycomb/Honeycomb Disk 96
Collagen Sponge Mighty
Atelocollagen Permeable Membrane

If the site cannot be incised, cells can be mixed with a high concentration of atelocollagen solution and administered locally so that the collagen forms a gel and cells can be transplanted to the injection site.
Product to prepare a highly concentrated atelocollagen solution:
Atelocollagen powder

We estimate that it remains at least two months but the duration depends on the transplantation site.

There are several examples of mechanical stress cultures that use simple weights without special device.

Please contact us as we may be able to produce custom-made products upon your request. You can also cut MIGHTY into smaller pieces with a sharp knife such as a surgical scalpel.