Figure 1.

The polymer polyP. (A–C) Hydrogel formation; Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). (A) Collagen-HG, (B) Collagen/mucin-HG, and (C) Collagen/mucin/polyP -HG. In (C), nanoparticles (NP) are seen that are formed with polyP in the presence of Mg²⁺. (D) Size separation of Na-polyP by 7 M urea/25% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. As markers to the Na-polyP sample used in the study (~40 P_i units), Graham’s salt (25 P_i) and trimeric Na-polyP₃ (3 P_i units) were used. Na-polyP was incubated in the presence (plus; lanes a and b) or absence (minus; c and d) of mucin and in the presence of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) for 0 min (a and c) or 60 min (b and d).