FIG. 6.

Hepatic albumin expression as a function of gel stiffness. (A–D) Intracellular albumin in hepatocytes cultured on heparin gels of varying stiffness at day 5 in culture. (A) 5% (soft, 11 kPa), (B) 10% (intermediate, 27 kPa), (C) 20% (stiff, 116 kPa) heparin gels, and (D) glass substrate. Green fluorescence is intracellular albumin, whereas blue fluorescence is DAPI staining of nuclei. Scale bar=100 μm. (E) ELISA analysis of albumin secretion by primary hepatocytes cultured on heparin gels of varying stiffness and glass substrate. Error bars indicate standard deviation of the mean for n=3 samples. *p<0.05, **p<0.0005. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea