Collagen is the most abundant protein in various mammalian
tissues
and has an essential role in various cellular processes. Collagen
is necessary for food-related biotechnological applications such as
cultivated meat, medical engineering, and cosmetics. High-yield expression
of natural collagen from mammalian cells is challenging and not cost-effective.
Thus, external collagen is obtained primarily from animal tissues.
Under cellular hypoxia, overactivation of the transcription factor
hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) was shown to correlate with enhanced
accumulation of collagen. Herein, we showed that the small molecule
ML228, a known molecular activator of HIF, enhances the accumulation
of collagen type-I in human fibroblast cells. We report an increase
in collagen levels by 2.33 ± 0.33 when fibroblasts were incubated
with 5 μM of ML228. Our experimental results demonstrated, for
the first time, that external modulation of the hypoxia biological
pathway can boost collagen levels in mammalian cells. Our findings
pave the way for enhancing natural collagen production in mammals
by altering cellular signaling pathways.