Structural and Rheological Properties of a Fish Collagen-Based Hydrogel Considered as a Brain Tissue Phantom

Abstract

Hydrogels have gained attention as phantoms of soft materials mimicking properties of the brain tissue aimed at creating adjustable physical media for studying rheological models, training models for surgeons, tissue substitutes used in the process of surgical treatment of neurological diseases, and testing personal protective gears. In this work, we report the results of exploring the shear rheological properties of a material synthesized on the basis of fish collagen and discuss its relevance to the properties of biological samples under similar experimental conditions. It is shown that the stress-strain relations and the storage and loss moduli of the artificial and biological materials exhibit high similarity under amplitude shear sweep as well as responses to low-frequency oscillatory perturbations. The respective rheological models and perspectives for the use of this hydrogel material are discussed. © 2025 American Chemical Society.