A method has been developed of preventing or limiting formation of adhesions by administering to a site in need thereof, in the absence of or after bleeding or leakage of fluid has been substantially stopped, a self-assembling material which forms a barrier to formation of adhesions. In one embodiment, the self-assembling material comprises peptides having a sequence of amino acid residues conforming to one or more of Formulas I-IV: ((Xaa°′−Xaa+)x(Xaane1_Xaa−)y)n (I) ((Xaa′_Xaa)x(Xaa°e°−Xaa+)y)n (II) ((Xaa+−Xaa″e1)x(Xaa−Xaa″)y)n (III) and ((Xaa−XaaQe7)x(Xaa+Xaa1e″)y)n (IV), where Xaan′ represents an amino acid residue having a neutral charge Xaa+ represents an amino acid residue having a positive charge Xaa represents an amino acid residue having a negative charge x and y are integers having a value of 1, 2 or 4, independently and n is an integer having a value of 1-5. In another embodiment, the self assembling materials are peptidomimetics, nucleotidomimetics, di- and triblock copolymers, N-alkylacrylamides, or dendimers. These materials are also useful in a method for regeneration or repair of tissue or cells forming tissue.
