Figure 1. Regulating the inflammatory period requires initial delivery of pro-inflammatory cytokines followed by delayed delivery of anti-inflammatory cytokines.

(a) Schematic describing the cytokines that regulate the inflammation phase (I, red) and healing phase (II, blue). (b) Schematic describing how M0 macrophages can be polarized into M1 (Pro-inflammatory) and/or M2 (Anti-inflammatory) phenotypes when exposed to different cytokines. (c) Illustration of the desired cumulative release profile: initial release of macrophage recruitment and pro-inflammation cytokines (red), followed by delivery of anti-inflammatory cytokines (blue). (d) Illustration of the proposed biomaterial system (top) with illustration key (bottom).