Native extracellular matrix

Potential applications of scaffolds made from chitosan and chitin nanofibers have been explored in tissue engineering. Chitin and chitosan can be electrospun into nanoscaffolds that could resemble the native extracellular matrix and have improved cytocompatibility for tissue engineering... 

Pham, M.T., Reuther, H., Maitz, M.F., 2003. Native extracellular matrix coating on Ti surfaces. J. Biomed. Mater. Res. Part A 66A, 310-316. 

Electrospinning is a facile method for making precision nanofibres and microfibres that can be used to replicate native extracellular matrix (ECM) fibrils. 

Natural polymers such as collagen, elastin, and fibrin make up much of the body s native extracellular matrix (ECM), and they were explored as platforms for tissue engineered constructs [34,47 9]. Polysaccharides such as chitosan, starch, alginate, and dextran were also studied for these purposes. Simultaneously, silk fibroin was widely explored for vascular applications due to its higher mechanical properties in comparison to other natural polymers, such as fibrin [48]. The utilization of natural polymers to create tissue-engineered scaffolds has yielded promising results, both in vitro and in vivo, due in part to the enhanced bioactivity provided by materials normally found within the human body [50]. However, their mechanical response is usually below the required values therefore, synthetic polymers have been explored to achieve the desired properties. 

To fabricate extracellular matrix equivalents with soft sugar (polysaccharide) hydrogels interpenetrated with networks of native extracellular matrix fragments and the synthesis of transplantation modules for higher resolution targeting is now a reality. 

Canavan, H. E., Graham, D. J., Cheng, X. H., Ratner, B. D., Castner, D. G. (2007). Comparison of native extracellular matrix with adsorbed protein films using secondary ion mass spectrometry. Langmuir, 23, 50-56. http //dx.doi.org/10.1021/la062330o. 

The generation of porous topographic substrates by inirnicking the native extracellular matrix to promote the regeneration of damaged bone tissues, is a rather challenging process (23). 

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