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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Nov 15.
Published in final edited form as: J Control Release. 2021 Oct 12;339:484–497. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2021.10.007

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

The characterization of the ProGel-Dex. (a) The thermoresponsive phase transition of ProGel-Dex (24 w/w% Dex content in ProGel-Dex, 20 w/v% ProGel-Dex concentration). Left panel: aqueous ProGel-Dex solution was free-flowing at 4°C. Right panel: aqueous ProGel-Dex solution formed a hydrogel at 30°C. (b) The rheological properties of ProGel-Dex (24 w/w% Dex content in ProGel-Dex, 20 w/v% ProGel-Dex concentration). The first temperature (21.9 °C), at which the G’ value (storage modulus) equaled the G” value (loss modulus), was identified as the gelation temperature (Tgel) of ProGel-Dex. The second temperature (33.5 °C), at which the G’ value equaled the G” value, was identified as the syneresis temperature (Tsyn) of ProGel-Dex. (c) ProGel-Dex (24 w/w% Dex content in ProGel-Dex, 20 w/v% ProGel-Dex concentration) viscosity vs. shear rate profiles at different temperatures. (d) Sol-gel-syn phase transition diagram of ProGel-Dex constructed using the test tube-tilting method. The gelation and syneresis temperatures of ProGel-Dex with three different Dex contents (20, 24, and 28 w/w%) were recorded with the concentrations of the prodrug solution ranging from 15 w/v% to 40 w/v% with 2.5 w/v% increments.