Artificial ECMs natural polymer

The design of natural polymer-based artificial ECMs for liver tissue engineering is very important because the liver plays important roles in our body, such as metabolism, storage, and synthesis and release of carbohydrates, vitamins, lipids, proteins, and detoxification, inactivation of endogenous and exogenous substances and activation of precursor molecules (Zakim and Boyer, 1990). Also, hepatocytes as the parenchymal cells among liver cells are anchorage-dependent cells and the hepatocytes lose their fiver-specific functions and viability without an optimal artificial ECM (Chan et al., 2004). 

Many research groups are attempting to construct artificial ECMs. The scaffolding for these matrices has taken the form of polymer materials that can be surface modified for desired functionalities. In some cases they are designed to be biodegradable allowing the cells to replace this material with its natural counterpart as they estabhsh themselves and their tissue function. The major obstacle is that the properties of this matrix are difficult to specify since the properties of natural ECMs are complex and not fuUy known. Furthermore, two-way communication between cells is difficult to mimic since the information contained within these conversations is also not fuUy known. At this time, the full spectrum of ECM functionahties can only be provided by the cells themselves. 

Endothelialized biomaterials are essential components for the next generation of medical devices. Such artificial supports have become more complex with technical developments, transforming from simple polymer films to fibrous matrices with decreasing fiber-size scale and increasing porosity, designed to closely resemble the natural extracellular matrix (ECM), which supports tissue growth and repair in vivo. 

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