Matrix and Matrix Regulation

The life of a higher, multicellular organism is essentially bound up with the triad represented by capillaries, extracellular matrix or ground substance, and cells. A cell is capable of functioning only in its surrounding milieu: the structured extracellular space. Contrary to views of cellular pathology which currently predominate, it is not conceptually feasible to artificially separate cellular functions from their surrounding environment. Wherever this may be attempted, the cell becomes an abstraction, a model. And in cases in which actual patients are involved, such an unnatural approach divorces their illnesses from their individuality and, in the final analysis, enables therapy of only the model of an illness. The results of this unfortunate outlook have become especially apparent in futile attempts currently widespread in the therapy of tumors and chronic diseases. Every cell is intimately linked to its extracellular space. The extracellular space alone enables metabolic processes to reach the cell, and only as a result of such conditions can the genetic material in the cell nucleus become active. The extracellular space provides a molecular sieve between cell and associated capillaries (blood and lymph capillaries). The substances which structure the extracellular matrix form a network of high-polymer sugar complexes: sugars bonded to proteins — the proteoglycans (PGs), as well as sugars not bonded to proteins — the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs).