Chronic heart failure (CHF) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are among the most commonpathologies that afflict Americans today. While CHF and TBI affect different organs, they share
the fact that both patient populations face a great unmet need for a therapeutic that aims to
regenerate or preserve organ function. Thus, we investigated the use of two different types of
ECM derived biomaterials for the treatment of chronic myocardial infarction (MI) and acute TBI.
First, we investigated the efficacy and mechanism of action of an injectable myocardial matrix hydrogel in a chronic model of MI. In these studies, we showed the ability of the matrix to preserve
cardiac function as well as its ability to modulate gene expression through methods of medium
and high throughput gene expression analyses. Next, we moved onto a new ECM derived
biomaterial that isolates the low molecular weight components of a traditional myocardial matrix
hydrogel to create an infusible ECM biomaterial (iECM). Applying this iECM in an acute model of
TBI, we found that the material can modulate vascular permeability and BBB integrity through
methods of in vivo and in vitro assessments. While the iECM was not shown to improve
sensorimotor function on rotarod, we did see modulation of the neuroinflammatory response as
well as a neuroprotective response via gene expression analyses. These studies together have
advanced the understanding of ECM therapeutics in chronic MI as well as shown the importance
of BBB and vascular integrity in modulating neuroinflammation in acute TBI using a new type of
ECM biomaterial.