Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Mar 1:68:1-14.
doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2017.12.019. Epub 2017 Dec 20.

Extracellular matrix hydrogel therapies: In vivo applications and development

Martin T Spang  1 , Karen L Christman  2
Affiliations
Review

Extracellular matrix hydrogel therapies: In vivo applications and development

Martin T Spang et al. Acta Biomater. .

Abstract

Decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) has been widely used for tissue engineering applications and is becoming increasingly versatile as it can take many forms, including patches, powders, and hydrogels. Following additional processing, decellularized ECM can form an inducible hydrogel that can be injected, providing for new minimally-invasive procedure opportunities. ECM hydrogels have been derived from numerous tissue sources and applied to treat many disease models, such as ischemic injuries and organ regeneration or replacement. This review will focus on in vivo applications of ECM hydrogels and functional outcomes in disease models, as well as discuss considerations for clinical translation.

Statement of significance: Extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogel therapies are being developed to treat diseased or damaged tissues and organs throughout the body. Many ECM hydrogels are progressing from in vitro models to in vivo biocompatibility studies and functional models. There is significant potential for clinical translation of these therapies since one ECM hydrogel therapy is already in a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Keywords: Decellularization; Extracellular matrix; Hydrogel; Regenerative medicine; Tissue engineering.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Images of the workflow for developing injectable decellularized hydrogels. After continuous agitation in detergent solution, decellularized tissue is lyophilized and milled to yield only the extracellular matrix (ECM). Milled ECM can either be (1) suspended in solution and remain a non-free-standing solution, or (2) undergo enzymatic digestion to form an inducible non-flowing hydrogel. Images were reprinted from [62] with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 2
Figure 2
ECM hydrogels injected for therapeutic applications throughout the body. Images were reprinted with permissions from Elsevier [26, 31, 61, 79, 85, 89, 93, 103], Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. [82], Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. [97], and the American Chemical Society [22].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Brown BN, Badylak SF. Extracellular matrix as an inductive scaffold for functional tissue reconstruction. Translational Research. 2014;163(4):268–285. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ye L, Zimmermann WH, Garry DJ, Zhang J. Patching the Heart. Circulation Research. 2013;113(7):922–932. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang B, Borazjani A, Tahai M, de Jongh Curry AL, Simionescu DT, Guan J, To F, Elder SH, Liao J. Fabrication of cardiac patch with decellularized porcine myocardial scaffold and bone marrow mononuclear cells. J of Biomed Mat Res Part A. 2010;94(4):1100–1110. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ota T, Gilbert TW, Schwartzman D, McTiernan CF, Kitajima T, Ito Y, Sawa Y, Badylak SF, Zenati MA. A fusion protein of hepatocyte growth factor enhances reconstruction of myocardium in a cardiac patch derived from porcine urinary bladder matrix. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2008;136(5):1309–1317. - PMC - PubMed
    1. D'Amore A, Yoshizumi T, Luketich SK, Wolf MT, Gu X, Cammarata M, Hoff R, Badylak SF, Wagner WR. Bi-layered polyurethane – Extracellular matrix cardiac patch improves ischemic ventricular wall remodeling in a rat model. Biomaterials. 2016;107:1–14. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances