Blue biomaterials: a comprehensive review of marine-derived decellularized extracellular matrices (dECM) for regenerative medicine

Considering that oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, they are rich in marine resources, providing a large and unique, sustainable resource pool for various research areas. In biomedical science, dECM derived from marine life is becoming an increasingly widely used and promising biomaterial. Compared with dECM derived from terrestrial mammalian sources, materials from marine organisms have lower immunogenicity, simpler structures, and higher usability. Marine dECM sources are diverse, including processed by-products of fish (skin, scales, bones, and swim bladders), squid, jellyfish, and crustaceans. Notably, these “wastes” contain valuable biological macromolecules, such as collagen, glycosaminoglycans, chitin, and bioactive minerals. Considering the evolutionary adaptability of marine organisms, their dECM scaffolds have unique biochemical compositions, excellent biocompatibility, controllable degradation kinetics, and intrinsic biological induction activity. This review systematically summarizes the research progress of marine biological dECM, covering its source diversity, preparation strategies, structural and functional characteristics, and medical applications. In the future, it is expected to further expand the application boundaries of marine dECM by integrating advanced manufacturing technologies such as 3D bioprinting, organ-on-a-chip, and intelligent drug-controlled-release systems into personalized regenerative medicine, and to promote the efficient transformation of “blue biomaterials” into clinical practice.