Figure 7.

(A). Immunofluorescence staining for elastin (green), collagen type I (yellow), F-actin (red) and nucleic acid (blue) in GEP45, GEP30, and GPE control at day 10. Scale bar=250 µm. The antibodies of collagen type I and elastin only can be used for human source samples. The immunofluorescence staining images of cell-free hydrogel were showed in supporting file as the controls. (B) Effect of elastin addition on ECM proteins (COL1A1, ELN, and α-SMA) gene expression on day 9. Elastin addition resulted in a significant increase in collagen 1A1 and elastin at day 9. Gene expression was normalized to the housekeeping gene GAPDH and expressed as fold change versus NHDFs seeded GPE control hydrogels (considered as 1) at day 9. * denote p < 0.05. n = 4.