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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jun 28.
Published in final edited form as: Adv Funct Mater. 2016 Apr 15;26(23):4113–4123. doi: 10.1002/adfm.201600236

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Ionic strength responsive properties of SELP dynamic hydrogels. LCST was determined by DSC heat flow vs. temperature curves for 2% SELPs, suggesting (a) a silk-to-elastin ratio and (b) the position of the “X” residue governed the chemical response. Keys: SE8Y (orange curves), S2E8Y (green curves), S4E8Y hydrogel (grey curves) and S2E8R (blue curves) in 1M NaCl (solid curves) or deionized water (dashed curves). Storage modulus of 10% SELP hydrogels was determined by DMA at 4, 10, 22 and 37°C, suggesting the response to ionic strength depended on (c) silk-to-elastin ratio and (d) position “X” residue in elastin block. (e) Optical and (f) SEM images showing the size and micro-morphology of 2% S2E8R hydrogel samples in swollen states at 4°C (<LCST) and in contracted states at 37°C (>LCST) in deionized water and 1M NaCl.