FIG. 3.

Biofunctionalization of PEG hydrogels and seeding with IEOs. (A) Representative brightfield images of IEOs seeded on covalently biofunctionalized hydrogels; scale = 200 μm. IEOs on CBF hydrogels form scattered three-dimensional cellular aggregates rather than confluent monolayers. (B) Representative brightfield images of IEOs seeded on PDL-PA hydrogels; scale = 200 μm. Neither PDL-T nor unmodified collagen IV alone formed IEO monolayers; however, their combination formed IEO monolayers similar to those found on tissue culture plastic 96-well plates (positive control). (C) Double-stranded DNA content from IEOs seeded on both C-BF and PDL-BF hydrogels shows that only PDL-BF hydrogels contain an equivalent number of cells to tissue culture plastic controls. The letters above each group indicate statistical significance (p < 0.05). Groups that do not share a letter are statistically different from one another, while groups that share a letter are not statistically different.