What are Extracellular Membranes and what are their benefits in animals?
Extracellular membranes are an exciting new element of the biotechnology field. The initial "discovery" of the benefits were first found in 1986. The basement membrane layer of the urinary bladder of pigs is harvested and "washed" of all cellular material. What is left is a useable tissue that has various bioactive chemicals that can be sutured or placed in various tissues. The material is a site specific bioreactive material which has the ability of causing constructive remodeling of any tissue in which it is placed. These membranes can be used on the skin, cornea, heart, bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament, intestine, stomach, urinary bladder and esophagus.

What procedures can ECM's be used for?
We are finding new ways to use these products literally every day. Dr. Wood at Northside has had the opportunity to work with the pioneers in the field and put many of the laboratory applications into the clinical setting. We have used ACell-Vet, a urinary bladder membrane in areas such as wound care, oral reconstruction, cruciate ligament disease, cartilage defects, corneal ulcers and gastrointestinal reconstruction. For further questions on the UBM product, visit our link to ACell, inc. at www.acell.com.

What are the benefits of using tissue engineering/extracellular membranes?
Benefits of using an ECM include the ability to rebuild a tissue instead of repair by scar tissue, which is essentially what every type of healing includes. Use of a tissue engineered product such as ACell-Vet allows for constructive remodeling of almost any tissue in the body by utilizing multipotential cells that are drawn to the area and causes site specific remodeling. Other advantages are its strength and ability to resist infection.