A) Gross anatomy of hemisected bladders 24 hours after treatment showed visually apparent reduction in ulceration, swelling, erythema, and hyperemia within the mucosa of the bladder with the administration of SAGE. Bladders administered SELP 815K or 415K contained intact gels that were in intimate contact with the urothelium prior to dissection. Scale bar represents 5 mm. B) Histological inspection showed that the addition of SAGE substantially reduced edema and signs of vessel dilation. SELP 815K without SAGE showed especially pronounced edema. Key anatomical features are labeled as follows: bladder lumen (LU), urothelium (U), lamina propria (LP), bladder smooth muscle (BSM). Scale bar represents 250 μm. C) Myeloperoxidase (MPO) for each bladder was quantified as a general marker of the degree of inflammation. LL-37 exposure induced a highly inflamed state and drastically increased MPO production. Pretreatment with PLGA-PEG-PLGA and Poloxamer 407 had a prophylactic protective effect. *** indicates a p-value of less than 0.001 when the sample is compared to the intact mice. † and †† indicate statistical difference between the sham treatment group, saline without SAGE, with p-values of less than 0.05 and 0.01, respectively. A Kruskal-Wallis test followed by a post-hoc Dunn’s test for group comparisons were used to assess the statistical significance (n=6 per group) of the MPO data.