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Polypropyleneimine octaamine dendrimers were studied as an alternative means of generating highly crosslinked collagen. Crosslinking was effected by using the water‐soluble carbodiimide 1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC). The multifunctional dendrimers were introduced as novel crosslinkers after the activation of the carboxylic acid groups of glutamic and aspartic acid residues in collagen. The conventional crosslinker glutaraldehyde was used as a control. EDC, itself an alternative crosslinker, which forms zero‐length crosslinks by directly covalently binding collagen molecules, as well as a low molecular weight diamine and a low molecular weight triamine, were also studied. All of the resultant gels were freeze‐dried to obtain sponges for characterization. Water uptake of the gels decreased from 90% to 60% after dendrimer crosslinking compared with EDC crosslinking …