Vanillic acid and syringic acid: Exceptionally robust aromatic moieties for inhibiting in vitro self-assembly of type I collagen.

Excess collagen fibril accumulation is one of the leading causes for stroke and myocardial infarction, thus inducing interest in identifying and studying the compounds, which inhibits collagen fibril formation. Herein, inhibition of self-assembly of collagen has been studied using syringic acid and vanillic acid. These plant phytochemicals are well known antioxidants and they reduce oxidative stress as well. Inhibitory effect on collagen fibrils using syringic and vanillic acid has been studied using varying biophysical techniques. Circular Dichroism and FT-IR studies clearly showed the changes in secondary structure of collagen with the increasing concentration of vanillic acid and syringic acid. DLS measurements showed an acute aggregation upon treatment with these compounds and an inhibitory effect was also visualized using morphological studies. In addition, the decreased rate in the formation of collagen fibrils proves that these compounds are efficient to inhibit collagen fibril formation. This opens a new arena for the development of novel targeted delivery systems for diseases related to collagen accumulation.