Method for debristling animal skin

1. A method of removing hair or bristles from an animal skin, comprising:

heating the skin to a temperature between about 53° C. and about 60° C.;

applying friction to the skin in an area of the skin containing hair or bristle to remove the hair or bristle from the skin, wherein the skin is heated to a temperature range that allows the hair or bristle to be removed by friction, but has a maximum temperature and heating time that does not damage the dermal extracellular matrix of the skin.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the skin is heated to between about 53° C. and about 56° C.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the skin is heated for less than about 11 minutes.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the skin is heated to about 54° C.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the skin comprises submerging the skin in a liquid that is heated to a desired temperature.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein submerging the skin in the liquid comprises submerging an animal body in the liquid.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein applying friction to the skin comprises rotating the animal body within the liquid and contacting the rotating body with a surface to apply friction to the skin.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising moving the surface with respect to the skin.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying an adhesive to the skin;

cooling the adhesive to solidify the adhesive; and

applying a force to the adhesive to pull the adhesive away from the skin and remove hair or bristle from the skin.

10. An acellular tissue matrix produced by a processing, comprising:

selecting an animal skin including cellular components;

removing the hair or bristle from the animal skin using the method of claim 1 ; and

removing substantially all of the cellular components from the skin.