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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biomaterials. 2013 Jan 16;34(10):2442–2454. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.12.029

Figure 7.

Figure 7

Effect of chemical crosslinker content on the pSBMA hydrogel mineralization outcome. (a) μ-CT views (sagittal and coronal) of the mineralized hydrogels and respective mineral size distribution in diameters (determined by μ-CT) as a function of the crosslinker content. (b) SEM micrographs of the cross-sections of the mineralized hydrogels as a function of the crosslinker content. (c) Swelling ratios of pSBMA hydrogels by volume (Sv) in water (red) and in PBS (green) as a function of the chemical crosslinker content (n=3). The swelling ratios of pSBMA hydrogels in water by weight (Sw, black) and by volume (Sv, red) are plotted in the inset. (d) Mineral volume of the mineralized hydrogels (determined by μ-CT, n=3) as a function of crosslinker content. (e) Total calcium content of the mineralized hydrogels (determined by selective ion electrode upon acid treatment, n=3) as a function of the crosslinker content. All hydrogels were mineralized with a heating rate of 0.2 °C/min. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison. Pairwise comparisons of each parameter with those obtained with lowest crosslinker content (0.027 mol%) are statistically significant (P < 0.05) unless denoted as NS (not significant). Complete pairwise comparisons are shown in Supplementary Tables S9 & S10.