Preface

**Section 3 ECM of Connective Tissues and Organs 159**

**Development 161**

**VI** Contents

**Extracellular Matrix 203** Fabienna Arends and Oliver Lieleg

**Literature Review 223** Cevdet Kaya and Bahadır Şahin

**Implications 261**

**Technique 341**

Stéphane Bolduc

**Tissue/Organ Damage 235**

Sylvain Vigier and Tamas Fülöp

**in Regenerative Medicine 323**

Chapter 8 **CCN Family: Matricellular Proteins in Cartilage and Bone**

John A. Arnott, Kathleen Doane and Sonia Lobo Planey

Chapter 9 **Biophysical Properties of the Basal Lamina: A Highly Selective**

Chapter 10 **The Role of Extracellular Matrix Proteins in the Urinary Tract: A**

Chapter 11 **Mechanisms of Collagen Network Organization in Response to**

Takaoki Saneyasu, Saeko Yoshioka and Takao Sakai

**Biology Masterpiece, Evaluation Systems, and Therapeutic**

Irene Tadeo, Tomás Álvaro, Samuel Navarro and Rosa Noguera

Chapter 12 **Tumor Microenvironment Heterogeneity: A Review of the**

**Section 4 Biomaterials, Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering 291**

Chapter 13 **Exploring the Extracellular Matrix to Create Biomaterials 293**

Chapter 14 **Extracellular Matrix Enhances Therapeutic Effects of Stem Cells**

Chapter 15 **New and Improved Tissue Engineering Techniques: Production**

**of Exogenous Material-Free Stroma by the Self-Assembly**

Ingrid Saba, Weronika Jakubowska, Stéphane Chabaud and

Yan Nie, Shuaiqiang Zhang, Na Liu and Zongjin Li

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an ensemble of non-cellular components present within all tissues and organs of the human body. The ECM provides structural support for scaffolding cellular constituents and biochemical and biomechanical support for those events leading to tissue morphogenesis, differentiation and homeostasis. Essential components of all ECMs are water, proteins and polysaccharides. However, their composition, architecture and bio‐ activity greatly vary from tissue to tissue in relation to the specific role the ECM is required to assume. This book overviews the role of the ECM in different tissues and organs of the human body.

The composition and the function of the ECM in skeletal muscle are discussed with respect to the role of ECM in the motor function, as well as on mechanisms of remodeling during adaptation to physical activity. Special attention is paid to changes in skeletal muscle ECM assembly and function during muscle aging and in diseases such as fibrosis and myopa‐ thies.

Rather than static and passive, the ECM is an active and dynamic environment for cells. The importance of ECM remodeling in the central nervous system is hereby discussed. For in‐ stance, ECM proteins may modulate glial functions, such as response to injury or inflamma‐ tion. Also, it is reported how the study of ECM plasticity in the juvenile and adult brain may promote complex forms of learning and may have further implications of regenerative and therapeutic potential.

The importance of the ECM is vividly illustrated by the wide range of pathologies and syn‐ dromes that arise from genetic abnormalities in its proteins. For instance, alterations of the basal lamina contribute to several physiological malfunctions. Also, the analysis of ECM composition can provide prognosis and progress of pathologies of the urinary tract, wound healing, mechanisms of collagen network organization following tissue damage, pathologi‐ cal processes of chronic fibrotic diseases as well as bone and cartilage repair.

Stem cell therapy and tissue engineering are two strategic approaches for repair and regen‐ eration of damaged tissue, which are often combined together. The success of a cell therapy is greatly based on the role the ECM has in providing a supportive microenvironment for cell viability and biosynthesis. For several applications, the ECM must be synthetically re‐ produced. At its conclusion, this book reports ample reviews on the available biomaterials and on the current techniques in tissue engineering for the production of near-to-native syn‐ thetic ECMs.

> **Francesco Travascio, Ph.D.** University of Miami Coral Gables, FL, USA
