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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Prog Polym Sci. 2016 Sep 17;65:53–82. doi: 10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2016.09.004

Figure 7.

Figure 7

Semi-crystalline polymer platforms with tunable elasticity. (A) Temperature-induced softening of semi-crystalline crosslinked PCL substrates. More than 70% of primary myoblasts cultured on the film that were initially flattened in morphology became rounded when the elasticity transition was triggered. Representative phase contrast images of myoblasts on crosslinked PCL illustrate the changes observed after heat treatment from 32 to 37°C [151]. (B) YAP/TAZ intracellular localization is dynamically regulated in cardiac progenitor cells as a function of PCL substrate stiffness. While the crosslinked films are relatively stiff (20 MPa) when below the polymer melting temperature (Tm), they suddenly become soft (1 MPa) above the Tm. Following the stiffness switch, a significant decrease in nuclear expression of YAP/TAZ (green) could be detected after 90 minutes. However, the percentage of YAP nuclear positive cells returned to original values after 180 min [152].