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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 10.
Published in final edited form as: MRS Bull. 2013 Mar 1;38(3):260–268. doi: 10.1557/mrs.2013.54

Figure 2.

Figure 2

(a) Polyethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), of varying number of repeat units (n), can be chain polymerized in the presence of a radical initiator (R*) to form a network of polyacrylate chains (red) cross-linked by PEG (black). Mesh size (ξ) is a measure of the distance between cross-links and inversely related to cross-linking density. (b) Generic plot showing the relationship between equilibrium swelling and compressive modulus as a function of cross-linking density. As cross-linking density increases, compressive modulus of the hydrogel increases while swelling decreases. (c) Chondrocytes encapsulated within a PEGDA hydrogel, stained with LIVE/DEAD. Live cells fluoresce green. In this “blank slate” hydrogel, cells do not form attachments to the matrix and maintain a rounded morphology. Scale bar = 50 μm. Adapted from Reference 19.