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. 2019 Oct 10;5(10):1648–1662. doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.9b00551

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Lithocholic acid-glycine-glycine (A13) forms a robust and biocompatible hydrogel. (A) Schematic representation of the study describing sustained delivery of a combination of antiproliferative, antiangiogenic, and anti-inflammatory drugs from a low molecular weight hydrogel for combating tumor proliferation, angiogenesis, and inflammation. (B) General molecular structure of LCA-dipeptide derived amphiphiles (A1–A20) synthesized and screened for hydrogelation. (C) Rheology characterization of different hydrogels at their minimum gelation concentrations show a comparison of G′ and percentage strain for each gel. (D) Representative images of A13 gel recovered from mice after different days of subcutaneous injection reveal intactness of gel until 21 d. (E, F) H&E (E) and CD45 (F) staining of gel and surrounding tissue retrieved after different days of subcutaneous injection of A13 gel from mice show infiltration of immune cells on day 7 that gets cleared by days 14 and 21, thereby validating the biocompatible nature of gel. Expanded figures with labeling are in Supporting Information as Data Figures ES1 and ES2. (G) Percentage of CD45+ cells quantified by flow cytometry from single-cell suspension of skin tissues with hydrogel isolated on different days after gel injection confirm the biocompatible nature of gel without causing any chronic inflammation. (H, I) Whole-body fluorescence images of BALB/c mice (H) and SD rats (I) after subcutaneous injection of NIR-Gel and NIR-Solution confirm sustained and localized release of dye from NIR-Gel for 21 d in BALB/c mice and for 50 d in SD rats with minimal dye distribution to other organs.