Porous foams derived from extracellular matrix, porous foam ECM medical devices, and methods of use and making thereof

1. A method for making a medical foam device, comprising:

(a) solubilizing dehydrated extracellular matrix material obtained from a mammalian tissue in a solution comprising a pH less than 4.0 or a pH greater than 9.0;

(b) foaming said acidified (pH<4) or basic (pH>9) solubilized extracellular matrix material in an industrial blender at speeds in the range of about 500 RPM to 2500 RPM to form a foamy extracellular matrix material;

(c) neutralizing said foamy extracellular matrix material in a solution to about pH 7; and

(d) mixing said foamy extracellular matrix material in the solution in step (c) to aid in neutralization of said foaming extracellular matrix material to a pH of about 7;

(e) introducing said foamy extracellular matrix material of step (d) into a mold;

(f) lyophilizing said neutralized molded foamy extracellular matrix material by pre-cooled lyophilizer shelves at a temperature range between 25° C. to −40° C.; followed by

(g) stabilizing said material in step (f) by introducing ice crystals into said molded extracellular matrix material of step (f) at a temperature range between 0° C. to −40° C. at a rate of 0.01° C./min. to 1° C./min. change in temperature for periods of time ranging between 0 minutes to 240 minutes; followed by

(h) sublimating said ice crystals introduced in step (g) at a vacuum pressure in the range of 100-120 mmHg to produce a porous extracellular matrix medical foam device;

wherein said porous extracellular matrix material medical foam device comprises a plurality of pores in the interior of the device and a plurality of pores on the exterior of the device, the diameter of the plurality of pores in the interior of the device being different than the diameter of the pores on the exterior of the device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said extracellular matrix material is selected from the group consisting of submucosa, epithelial basement membrane, epithelial basement membrane and tunica propria, dermis, and liver basement membrane.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising particularizing the molded foamy extracellular matrix material after step (h).

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said neutralizing solution is an acid selected from the group consisting of HCl, phosphoric acid, and acetic acid, or a base selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxide.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said neutralizing solution comprises a base selected from the group consisting of NaOH, NaHCO 3 and KCl or an acid selected from the group consisting of acetic acid and hydrochloric acid.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said mold comprises a sheet-like shape.

7. A method for making a medical gel comprising:

providing the molded foamy extracellular matrix material of claim 1 ;

milling said molded foamy extracellular matrix material to form a powder; and

mixing said powder with an aqueous solution to form said medical gel.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of pores in the interior of the porous extracellular matrix material medical foam device has a diameter in the range of about 1 micron to about 500 microns.