Table 1:
Formulations for ~3kPa and ~20kPa ionically crosslinked hydrogels with high and low molecular weight alginate.
| Syringe 1 | Syringe 2 | Final concentrations | Expected mechanical properties | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample | Avg. MW of alginate (kDa) | Total gel volume (μL) | Volume of 3% wt/vol alginate (μL) | Volume of cell suspension (μL) | Volume of 488mM calcium stock (μL) | Volume of media (μL) | Crosslinker concentration (mM) | Alginate concentration (wt/vol, %) | Initial elastic modulus (kPa, mean +/− s.d.) | Stress relaxation halftime, τ1/2 (seconds, mean +/− s.d.) | Loss tangent (mean +/− s.d.) |
| High MW low stiffness | 280 | 1200 | 800 | 120 | 24 | 256 | 9.8 | 2 | 3.0 +/− 1.1 | 7058 +/− 1416 | 0.054 +/−0.007 |
| Low MW low stiffness | 35 | 1200 | 800 | 120 | 69 | 211 | 28.1 | 2 | 2.7 +/− 1.6 | 478 +/− 97 | 0.111+/−0.006 |
| High MW high stiffness | 280 | 1200 | 800 | 120 | 60 | 220 | 24.4 | 2 | 18.5 +/− 3.8 | 1007 +/− 163 | - |
| Low MW high stiffness | 35 | 1200 | 800 | 120 | 135 | 145 | 54.9 | 2 | 19.0 +/− 4.5 | 68 +/− 8 | - |
(Adapted with permission from Lee et al., 2017)