Fig. 6.

Pliant hydrogel promotes MuSC survival and prevents differentiation in culture. (a) PEG hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties. Young’s modulus (E) is linearly correlated with precursor polymer concentration (n = 4); red circle indicates muscle elasticity. (b) Image of a pliant PEG hydrogel on a green spatula. Scale bar, 7 mm (top). Confocal immunofluorescence image of hydrogel microcontact printed with laminin specifically at the bottom of hydrogel microwells (i.e., from the “tips” of the micropillars). Scale bar, 125 mm (bottom). (c) Dissected tibialis anterior muscles (n = 5 mice, 10 muscles total) were analyzed by rheometry (horizontal line indicates the mean). (Figure from Ref. [91] with permission). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)