ECM Roles in the function of metabolic tissues

All metazoan cells produce and/or interact with tissue-specific extracellular matrices (ECMs). Such ECMs play important structural roles not only in connective tissues, but in all tissues in which they provide support and anchorage for cells. However, in addition to such structural roles, it has become increasingly clear that the tissue-specific microenvironments formed by the ECM play instructional roles that inform the proper phenotypes and functional behaviors of specialized cell types and, recent in vivo and in vitro studies suggest that ECM components also affect metabolic function. This review summarizes data that provide insights into roles of ECM in informing the proper development and functioning of highly specialized cells of metabolic tissues, such as adipocytes and islet β cells. Cells too are products of their environment Tissues are far more than collections of cells, as a major portion of tissues is composed of what lies between cells, and the majority of what lies between cells is the extracellular matrix (ECM). In fact, the most abundant proteins of the body are not intracellular or cell surface proteins, rather they are the collagens, a single subgroup of ECM proteins that alon