Table 6.

Common Natural Polymers for Adipose Tissue Engineering

Material	Strengths	Weaknesses	References
Adipose-derived ECM	Native ECM promotes favorable microenvironment for adipogenesis	Has not yet been formulated as a 3D porous scaffold	38,46,54
Collagen	Prevalent in native adipose ECM; promotes favorable adipose outcomes; well characterized	Fast degradation rate in vivo	39,42,75,79,81,87,89–92,148
Decellularized human placenta	Allogeneic approach to generate large adipose substitutes; supports adipose tissue formation	Extensive isolation and decellularization procedure (18 days)	7,44,50,70
Fibrin	Biocompatible material that can support adipogenesis in vivo	Has not yet been formulated as a 3D porous scaffold	58,63,71–74
Gelatin	Supports adipogenesis in vivo; retains shape after culture	Primarily used as material for microspheres; 3D construct for adipose tissue engineering not well utilized	36,75–81
Hyaluronan	Favorable mechanical properties; supports adipose tissue formation	3D porous scaffolds have not been widely successful for adipose outcomes	44,50,70,82–86
Matrigel	Supports adipogenesis	Cannot be utilized for human in vivo applications	38,60,67,68,78,80,87,88
Silk	Supports adipogenesis; favorable mechanical properties; slow degradation rate	Have not been utilized yet for long-term in vivo soft tissue engineering (>6 months)	42,103,135

3D, three-dimensional.