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. 2022 May 26;17(5):e0268300. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268300

Fig 1. Validating the polyacrylamide (PAA) hydrogel model.

Fig 1

(A) Schematic of the PAA model. (B) Brightfield microscopy of MCF-7 cells cultured for 48 hrs on the PAA model. (C) Immunofluorescent imaging of vinculin and actin in MCF-7 cells cultured on 500 Pa and 4 kPa stiffness hydrogels for 16 hrs. (D) Median and individual values for nuclear and cytoplasmic areas counting for 17–25 cells per condition. Significance was calculated using a Mann-Whitney U-test. (E) MCF-7 cell viability as measured by alamarBlue assay over 144 hrs culture on 500 Pa and 4 kPa stiffness hydrogels. The mean and SEM of 2 independent repeats are shown. (F) MCF-7 cell growth after 120 hrs culture on 500 Pa and 4 kPa stiffness hydrogels as measured by DAPI stained nuclei. The mean and SEM of 3 independent repeats are shown. Significance was calculated using a Student’s paired t-test.