Figure 5.

Effect of hydrogel stiffening on in vitro culture of COLO-357 cells. (A) Cell spheroid formation in soft (non-stiffened) and stiffened hydrogels. Cell-laden hydrogels were stained with live/dead staining kit and imaged with confocal microscopy. (B) Diameters and (C) metabolic activity of cell spheroids formed in the dynamically stiffened hydrogels (n=100). (D) mRNA expression on day 14. Housekeeping gene: GAPDH (2^−ΔΔCt method). Data were presented as mean ± SEM (n=3) P-values were calculated using one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni correction, (*p<0.05, **p<0.01, and ***p<0.001).