Representative images of calcein AM/ethidium homodimer 1 (live-dead) staining of nucleus pulposus cells cultured in HA-pNIPAM20 (a–c), HA-pNIPAM35 (d–f) and alginate (g–i) hydrogels for 1 (a, d, g), 3 (b, e, h) and 7 (c, f, i) days; green living cell, red dead cell. Scale bar 200 μm