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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 May 14.
Published in final edited form as: Chem Mater. 2019 Sep 27;31(19):8035–8043. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b02485

Figure 5.

Figure 5.

Engineered protein–PEG hybrid DA hydrogels support the culture of hMSCs. (A) Schematic of fulvene-modified ELPs containing a cell-adhesive RGD domain (green) and a structural elastin-like domain (blue). Upon mixing with a 4-arm PEG–maleimide crosslinker, the fulvene ELPs form hydrogel networks. (B) Gelation time sweep for ELP–PEG fulvene DA gels. Gelation point data are mean ± s.d., n = 3. Viability of hMSCs encapsulated in ELP–PEG fulvene DA gels after (C) 1 h and (D) 7 days, measured by a live/dead cytotoxicity assay. Viability data are mean ± s.d., n = 4. (E) Confocal fluorescence micrograph showing spreading of hMSCs cultured in ELP–PEG fulvene DA gels for 7 days. The actin cytoskeleton was stained with phalloidin (green) and the nuclei were stained with Hoechst (blue).