FIG. 2.

Suitability of collagen scaffold for mESC growth. (A) Representative scanning electron microscopy micrographs of a Helistat collagen scaffold. Upper: scaffold with no cells at two magnifications. Lower: scaffold with cells at two magnifications. (B) A typical stress–strain curve of the Helistat collagen scaffold. Elastic modulus was determined as the linear region of the curve and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) was defined as the maximum stress in the curve. (C) Elastic modulus and UTS as measured with the BD system for scaffold only (n=3) and scaffold with cells (n=2). Mean±standard deviation is presented. (D) Hematoxylin and eosin staining of mESC-embedded collagen scaffold after 6 days of exposure to one of the three examined conditions: control, static stretching, and cyclic stretching. (*p≤0.05). Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea