Patent ID: 8623646

Claim:
A method of enhancing the formation of extracellular matrices in culture comprising the steps of: plating out fibroblast cells on a tissue culture substrate; adding media containing a collagen synthesis stimulating growth factor to the plated cells; incubating the plated cells to facilitate attachment of the cells to the tissue culture substrate; removing the media from the substrate containing the growth factor stimulated cells; adding a volume exclusion agent capable of converting procollagen to collagen on top of the plated fibroblast cells wherein the volume exclusion agent is a hydrogel wherein the hydrogel creates a semipermeable barrier on the top of the plated fibroblast cells; adding tissue culture media containing the collagen synthesis stimulating growth factor on top of the hydrogel; and incubating the plated fibroblast cells in a tissue culture incubator; whereby after incubation procollagen is converted to collagen and extracellular matrices are formed.