Fig. 4.

Increased BMB proportion with constant fiber density did not affect oocyte outcomes. (a) Representative brightfield images of follicle and cell aggregates on Day 18 of culture at 20× (scale bar 100 μm) and 5× objectives (inset, scale bar 500 μm) when cultured in hydrogels of constant fiber density (2%v/v) with varied proportions of BMB-functionalized fibers (BMB) and unmodified fibers (Con). (b) Quantification of average aggregate cross-sectional area (0.5/1.5 n = 6, 1.0/1.0 n = 5, 1.5/0.5 n = 6), oocytes collected from each gel (n = 3 per condition), and oocyte diameter after 18 days of culture (oocytes pooled from 3 gels per condition, total oocytes: 0.5/1.5 n = 237, 1.0/1.0 n = 285, 1.5/0.5 n = 363). (c) Representative confocal images of laminin, perlecan, and collagen type I (red) in cell aggregates (nuclei, blue) formed around BMB-functionalized fibers (green) (scale bar 50 μm). Unmodified fibers are not fluorescently tagged in confocal images.