FIG. 2.

Assessment of the pcECM scaffolds' maximal cell capacity. Mathematical modeling of empirical data sets (a) and a goodness of fit between predicted and measured values (b) for hyaluronic acid (HA) treated (diamonds) and nontreated (circles) pcECM matrices showing the attachment density as a function of initial seeding density. The cell loading capacity of HA-treated scaffolds (4.0×10⁵ cells/cm²) was significantly higher (p<0.0001) than that of the nontreated pcECM matrices (2.7×10⁵ cells/cm²). Cell density changes as a function of time for low (c) and high (d) seeding densities (5×10⁴ and 1.5×10⁷ cells/cm², respectively). The effect of medium volume on cell density is shown in (e). Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of representative histological cross sections of reseeded pcECM constructs that were cultivated for 21 days, under static culture conditions (f). For each experimental group and density there are five biological replicas (n=5). Insets in (c, e) show the least square means computed by two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA). * Denotes significantly different results p<0.05. Scale bar: (f), 100 μm. pcECM, porcine cardiac ventricular extracellular matrix. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea