Eggshell Membrane as Biomaterial for Tissue Engineering

Eggshell membrane is commonly available in bulk at negligible cost from the biowaste of the egg processing industry. Its major advantage is related to its low cost and availability in abundance. The second major advantage is its biological macromolecular composition. With so many different proteins and proteoglycans, it shows a wide scope for biosubstitute development for tissue engineering applications as it closely mimics the natural extracellular matrix. Each component contributes specific functionality to scaffolds and helps cells in the scaffold to grow and proliferate in order to repair the damaged tissues or organs. This has been used with a combination of many biomaterials to design suitable functional scaffolds. This chapter covers the eggshell membrane extraction techniques and their application in tissue engineering. It also delineates an idea of extracellular matrix design and functionalization in terms of its composition and ability to facilitate tissue regeneration.