![]() ![]() For this reason, researchers have been progressively recognizing and characterizing the ECM’s crucial role and its impact on nanomechanical properties of tissues in homeostasis and illness. In particular, the latter observation has a considerable clinical value, since the content and structure of ECM-like surfaces have a considerable impact on cell growth, differentiation, and cellular characteristics, which might promote oncogenesis, as was partially confirmed by some previous studies. Notably, the biomechanical and biochemical, organizational, and protective features of the ECM in a particular tissue can vary considerably, not only from one tissue to the next, but even within a single tissue, as well as from one physiological state to the next (for instance, normal versus cancerous tissue). Most crucially, ECM aids with protection through a buffering action that sustains extracellular homeostasis and retention of water through these physical and biochemical characteristics and creates each organ’s mechanical and biochemical parameters, such as elasticity and compressive and tensile strength. Additionally, by binding growth factors (GFs) and engaging with cell-surface receptors to activate signal transduction and govern gene transcription, the ECM guides the vital morphological structure and physiological function. ![]() For instance, ECM receptors such as discoidin domain receptors, integrins, and syndecans, which are present in variable levels across the tissue ECMs, are involved in cell attachment to the ECM, which further determines not only cell migration across this matrix, but also network density and its crossing. Importantly, the ECM’s topological, physical, and biochemical makeup is not just tissue specific, but also shows high heterogeneity. Although the main biomacromolecules of ECM are collagens, fibrins, laminins, proteoglycans, glycosaminoglycans, and hyaluronic acid, each tissue and organ has its own ECM, which differentiates in composition and structure from the ECMs of other tissues and is constantly changing and remodeling in response to different stimuli. ![]() Notably, ECM is characterized by a highly dynamic structure that is continuously reconstructed, either non-enzymatically or enzymatically, and its molecular components undertake a variety of post-translational changes. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a three-dimensional network of macromolecules that acts as a substrate and physicochemical environment, in which cells grow and proliferate. ![]()
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