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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biotechnol Bioeng. 2013 Dec 6;111(3):441–453. doi: 10.1002/bit.25160

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Nanocomposite hydrogels from hyperbranched polyester (HPE) nanoparticles. a: HPE nanoparticles are surface functionalized with photocrosslinkable moieties. When the precursor solution containing functionalized HPE and photoinitiator is subjected to UV radiation, a covalently crosslinked network is obtained. This covalently crosslinked hydrogel is mechanically stable and can maintain its shape in physiological conditions. b: Due to the presence of hydrophobic cavities within the HPE nanoparticles, hydrophobic drugs such as dexamethasone can be entrapped. A sustain release of drug from the hydrogels network was observed over a week. c: By controlling the crosslinking density of the HPE hydrogels, physical properties and cell adhesion characteristics can be tuned. d: Photolithography technique can be used to fabricated micropatterned hydrogel structure to control the cellular interactions. Adapted with permission from Zhang et al. (2013). Copyright (2011) American Chemical Society.