Compositions comprising extracellular matrix of primitive animal species and related methods

A method of treating a patient having an injury, condition or defect, comprising administering to the patient a reverse-gelling regenerative extracellular matrix (rECM) composition derived from an animal selected from the group consisting of:

• a lizard, an echinoderm, a planarian, a hydra, a bat, a spiny mouse, a land slug, a sea snail, an octopus, a cricket, a spider, a crab, a lobster, a zebrafish, or an anemone,
• wherein the composition is administered to the patient at a location of the injury, condition, or defect in an amount effective to treat the injury, condition, or defect,
• wherein the injury, condition or defect is tissue trauma, and the rECM is administered to the patient at or near the tissue trauma, or the injury, condition or the defect is a myocardial infarction, a ischemia/reperfusion injury, a congenital myocardial or outflow tract defect, or a condition involving loss of or reduced amount of myocardial tissue, and the rECM is injected into or adjacent to the infarction, injury site, or defect location.

A kit comprising a first vessel containing an rECM acid protease digest solution, wherein said solution comprises an rECM derived from an animal selected from the group consisting of:

• a lizard, an echinoderm, a planarian, a hydra, a land slug, a sea snail, an octopus, a cricket, a spider, a crab, a lobster, a zebrafish, or an anemone, and said rECM has been digested by an acid protease, in an acidic buffer and a second vessel containing a neutralizing solution, wherein the rECM is prepared from tissue that a human cannot regenerate.