Figure 6.

Supramolecular hydrogels enhance tissue regeneration in Swiss Webster mice. Swiss Webster mice were injected subcutaneously with 25 μL of gel #10 or PEG (control) on days 0 and 8 after ear hole punching. (a) Ear tissue was harvested on day 1, 3, 5, or 7 for HIF-1α immunostaining (green). (b) Ear hole closure versus time for control and #10 gel treated group. The red arrows indicate time points at which supramolecular gel was administered (n = 10 ears, p < 0.005 vs control for all time points). (c) Example photographs of ear holes taken on day 35 for control group and day 34 for #10 gel treated group. (d, e) Histological tissue sections of H&E-stained ear tissue taken on day 34 from control mice (d) and #10 gel treated mice (e). The blue arrows indicate the new hair follicles, and the black arrows indicate the early cartilage formation. Images with higher resolution and Alcian blue staining are shown in Figure S14.