Figure 4.

Hematoxylin and eosin staining. Bright pink dots represent cells (some of which are marked with blue arrows). Pale pink areas are the matrix media not containing magnetic nanoparticles (MNP). Matrix media containing MNP are mostly dark-colored. MNP: hydrogels containing MNP; MNP + H: hydrogels containing MNP and jellified under a magnetic field; NO MNP: hydrogels not containing MNP. FF Matrix: Fmoc-FF peptide matrix; FF + RGD Matrix: hybrid matrix based on both Fmoc-FF and Fmoc-RGD peptides. Note that hydrogels not containing MNP were completely degraded at 38 days of cell culture, thus making it impossible to perform histochemical analysis. Photographs are representative images of each experimental condition. Data in the graphs represent the mean values ± standard errors of cell count from four different cross sections from a single scaffold.