Hydrogels derived from biopolymers, also called biohydrogels, have
shown potential for brain injury therapy due to their tunable physical, chemical,
and biological properties. Among different biohydrogels, those made from collagen
type I are very promising candidates for the reparation of nervous tissues due to its
biocompatibility, noncytotoxic properties, injectability, and self-healing ability.
Moreover, although collagen does not naturally occur in the brain, it has been
demonstrated that collagen type I, which resides in the basal lamina of the
subventricular zone in adults, supports neural cell attachment, axonal growth, and
cell proliferation due to its intrinsic content of specific cell-signaling domains. This
chapter summarizes the most relevant results obtained from both in vitro and in vivo
studies using self-healing biohydrogels based on collagen type I as key component
in the field of neuroregeneration.
