Fig. 2.
Self-assembly of peptides and promotion of angiogenesis in the cranial tissue. (A) Fluorescently tagged SLanc (1:10 ratio with untagged SLanc) showed localization and as an injected bolus. Representative whole brain sections from different rats at 4hrs–14 days shows persistence of SLanc hydrogels in the brain, scale bar 3 mm. (B-E) Promotion of material driven angiogenesis in cranial tissue was first observed using H&E staining of whole rat brain sections at day 7 post TBI; sham (B) or injured control (C) did not show significant angiogenesis. Black arrow in C showed vasospasm in injured brain without treatment. The SLanc treated brain (D) showed a significant increase of new blood vessels (black arrows in D) in the proximity of hydrogel implants (dotted-yellow line indicates the implanted hydrogel interface extending to the bottom left), enlarged figure (E) clearly displayed the new blood vessels structure in (D). Scale bar for B-D is 200 m, for E is 50 m.