Fig. 6.

(A) Contractility of hESC-CMs within elastin-like hydrogels of various crosslinking densities characterized by onset of contraction (n = 7-12), (B) percent of contracting hydrogels of the total population of hydrogel in each group over time, and (C) contractility rate over time. Significant difference (p < 0.05) as calculated by Tukey’s post hoc test is denoted by *. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Contractility of non-encapsulated human EBs (hEBs) is displayed for comparison. Increased crosslinking density resulted in a transient inhibition of cell contractility; however, after spontaneous contractility was regained, no significant differences were found for contractility rate among groups and non-encapsulated hEBs over the 14 days of culture.