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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Processing of Human Cardiac Tissue Toward Extracellular Matrix Self-assembling Hydrogel for In Vitro and In Vivo Applications
Published on: December 4, 2017
Extracellular matrix-based hydrogels obtained from human tissues: a work still in progress
Carlo Gazia1, Riccardo Tamburrini1,2, Amish Asthana1
1Department of Surgery, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Purpose Of Review:
The current review summarizes contemporary decellularization and hydrogel manufacturing strategies in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Recent Findings:
Decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) bioscaffolds are a valuable biomaterial that can be purposed into various forms of synthetic tissues such as hydrogels. ECM-based hydrogels can be of animal or human origin. The use of human tissues as a source for ECM hydrogels in the clinical setting is still in its infancy and current literature is scant and anecdotal, resulting in inconclusive results.
Summary:
Thus far the methods used to obtain hydrogels from human tissues remains a work in progress. Gelation, the most complex technique in obtaining hydrogels, is challenging due to remarkable heterogeneity of the tissues secondary to interindividual variability. Age, sex, ethnicity, and preexisting conditions are factors that dramatically undermine the technical feasibility of the gelation process. This is contrasted with animals whose well defined anatomical and histological characteristics have been selectively bred for the goal of manufacturing hydrogels.
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