Polymer gels as artificial soft tissue

Soft tissue consists a main body of biological systems. It is made of hydrogels mainly composed of extra cellular matrix (ECM), which is the three-dimensional highly organized and inter-woven network of proteins and polysaccharides. ECM has three symbolic roles. They are pertinent and excellent mechanical performance, extremely low friction, and effective and selective transportation of solute molecules for cell viability. One of the important goals for gel science would be to design and create hydrogels with critical parameters, which natural tissues possess and eventually to replace them with artificial one.