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. 2012 Aug 14;18(23-24):2497–2506. doi: 10.1089/ten.tea.2011.0711

FIG. 2.

FIG. 2.

HA-interacting hydrogels increased cartilage production by mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). (A) Physical properties of PEG, HA-interacting (HAB), and scrambled peptide control (sHAB) hydrogels containing encapsulated MSCs varied with initial HA loading and culture time. Swelling was significantly dependent on HA loading (p<0.05, see Fig. S3). (B) Cell number, as measured by DNA content, was initially highly dependent on scaffold type and HA loading, but differences decreased as scaffolds matured at 6 weeks. DNA was significantly dependent on hydrogel type and time, but not HA loading (p<0.05, Fig. S4). (C) Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content, normalized to DNA, increased with time for all scaffolds, with strong HA dose dependence at later weeks. GAG levels were significantly dependent on hydrogel type, HA loading, and time (p<0.05). (D) Overall collagen production, as measured by hydroxyproline content normalized to DNA, increased over time for all scaffolds, but showed no specific trend across HA concentrations. Collagen content was significantly dependent on hydrogel type and time, but not HA loading (p<0.05). GAG content (E) and collagen content (F) were plotted for representative HAB and PEG conditions over time. PEG, poly(ethylene glycol).