FIG. 5.

Hydrogel compaction. HF-MSC and BM-MSC isolations were embedded into fibrin hydrogels and allowed to polymerize in 24-well culture plates forming disks. Gels were detached from the walls of the 24-well plate and allowed to compact over the course of 3–4 days. At indicated times, the gels were photographed and their surface area was calculated using ImageJ software. The ratio of the area of the hydrogel (A) at time, t, over the initial area (A₀) was plotted as a function of time. (a) Kinetics of fibrin hydrogel compaction for BM-MSCs and HF-MSCs. The symbols (*) and (#) indicate statistical significance between the indicated samples (p<0.05). (b) Representative pictures of HF-MSC and BM-MSC-containing hydrogels after 80 h of compaction. (c) Final hydrogel compaction at t=80 h. The bars denote statistical significance (*p<0.05) between the two groups. The samples within each group are not statistically significant. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea