Surgical scaffold materials manufactured from donor human or animal tissue are increasingly being used to promote soft tissue repair and regeneration. The clinical product consists of the residual extracellular matrix remaining after a rigorous decellularization process. Optimally, the material provides both structural support during the repair period and cell guidance cues for effective incorporation into the regenerating tissue. Surgical scaffold materials are available from several companies and are unique products manufactured by proprietary methodology. A significant need exists for a more thorough understanding of scaffold properties that impact the early steps of host cell recruitment and infiltration. In this study, a panel of in vitro assays was used to make direct comparisons of several similar, commercially-available materials: Alloderm, Medeor Matrix, Permacol, and Strattice. Differences in the materials were detected for both cell signaling and scaffold architecture-dependent cell invasion. Material-conditioned media studies found Medeor Matrix to have the greatest positive effect upon cell proliferation and induction of migration. Strattice provided the greatest chemotaxis signaling and best suppressed apoptotic induction. Among assays measuring structure-dependent properties, Medeor Matrix was superior for cell attachment, followed by Permacol. Only Alloderm and Medeor Matrix supported chemotaxis-driven cell invasion beyond the most superficial zone. Medeor Matrix was the only material in the chorioallantoic membrane assay to support substantial cell invasion. These results indicate that both biologic and structural properties need to be carefully assessed in the considerable ongoing efforts to develop new uses and products in this important class of biomaterials. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.