Fig. 5.

Reinforcement stabilizes HA brush. a Reinforced spherical brush height measured over a period of 1 year versus natural, untreated spherical brush height. For each time point the corresponding number of measurements are N = 35, 126, 119, 103, 64, 56, 62, 76, 59, 28. Error bars report st. dev. b Reinforced brushes on spherical particles are still digested by hyaluronidase, indicating minimal HA−HA crosslinking within the brush. c Reinforced brushes on spherical particles resist detergent treatment (SDS) despite the removal of membrane fragments. This confirms the HA is stably bound to the underlying glass substrate. d UV micropatterning of HA synthase activity with a confocal microscope (λ = 405 nm). e Checkerboard pattern illustrating binary patterning of the brush. Red regions indicate areas where no brush grew; cyan regions indicate regions where brush expels red nanoparticles. Top: XZ confocal side view of micropatterned brush. Bottom: XY confocal image taken at the glass interface. All data in this figure were acquired in physiological conditions (150 mM). All scale bars are 10 µm.