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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jan 15.
Published in final edited form as: Acta Biomater. 2016 Oct 18;48:258–269. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2016.10.027

Figure 3. Controlling the degree of in situ gel stiffening.

Figure 3

(A) Effect of PEG8NB weight percent (2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 wt%) on the degree of gel stiffening. The concentration of CYGGGYC was adjusted such that a stoichiometric ratio of thiol-to-ene moieties was maintained (i.e., 5, 6, and 7 mM peptide, respectively). Hydrogels were allowed to swell for one day post-gelation, followed by tyrosinase treatment for 6 hours (shaded area). (B) Effect of tyrosinase-sensitive peptide content on the degree of in situ gel stiffening. PEG8NB content was fixed at 2.5wt%, whereas tyrosinase-sensitive (i.e., CYGGGYC) and insensitive (i.e., CGGGC) peptide crosslinkers were mixed at different percentages (0, 50, and 100% CYGGGYC). (C) Temporal control in gel stiffening. Swollen hydrogels (2.5wt% PEG8NB and 5 mM CYGGGYC) were treated with tyrosinase at day 1 for 3 hours and again at day 3 for another 3 hours. Data represent Mean ± SEM (n = 3).