Journal: Acta biomaterialia
Article Title: Biomimetic soft fibrous hydrogels for contractile and pharmacologically responsive smooth muscle
doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2018.05.015
Figure Lengend Snippet: A new approach to engineer fibrillar microenvironments with tunable structural and mechanical features using PEG thiol-ene photo-click hydrogels. (A) Schematic illustration of a fibrous hydrogel platform with tunable stiffness, structure, and composition by integration of thiol-ene photo-click chemistry, electrospinning, and combinatory protein array technology. (B) The electrospun fibre networks in dry and hydrated states were demonstrated by representative fluorescent confocal microscopy images. Scale bars: 10 μm. (C) Quantification of fibre diameters before (dry) and after swelling (hydrated) from confocal images; *** versus dry for p < 0.001. n = 8. (D) Young’s modulus of flat hydrogels and fibre networks determined by AFM large spherical probe (diameter 100 μm) indentation with Hertz contact mechanics model; *** versus soft for p < 0.001. n = 6 slides.
Article Snippet: To determine the elastic modulus of samples, the samples were hydrated and measured by an atomic force microscopy (AFM, 5420 Scanning Probe Microscope, Keysight Technologies Inc., Santa Rosa, CA).
Techniques: Protein Array, Confocal Microscopy