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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Dec 4.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Mater. 2016 Feb 2;1:15012. doi: 10.1038/natrevmats.2015.12

Figure 1. Biological extracellular matrix and synthetic strategies involving reversible chemistries.

Figure 1

a | The native extracellular matrix (ECM) is a heterogeneous fibrillar network that provides biochemical and physical cues to cells. b | Synthetic hydrogels are traditionally static, polymeric networks (middle panel). Dynamic hydrogels can capture aspects of the native ECM by temporally controlling ligand presentation (left panel) or reversibly cycling through changes in mechanics (right panel). Although these dynamic chemistries do not fully capture the complexity of the biological environment, they provide an enhanced precision over matrix cues in vitro, which will have a powerful impact on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.