Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jun 26.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Nanotechnol. 2021 Jun 17;16(9):1019–1029. doi: 10.1038/s41565-021-00926-z

Figure 2: Alginate hydrogels can be tuned to optimize compatibility with both astrocytes, neurons, and a coculture.

Figure 2:

(a) Photomicrographs of primary cortical astrocytes seeded on gels of different viscoelasticity (more viscoelastic gels, MVEG; less viscoelastic gels, LVEG) and stiffness (soft, 1 kPa, and stiff, 8 kPa), after 120 hours. Cells stained for GFAP (green)/nuclei (blue), scale bar represents 10 μm (left). Quantification of % cells positive for GFAP on each substrate (right) (n=4/sample, 14 random fields/sample) (p(***)=0.0021).

(b) Photomicrographs of primary cortical neurons seeded on alginate-Matrigel interpenetrating networks (IPNs) of different viscoelasticity (MVEG, LVEG) and stiffness (soft, 1 kPa, and stiff, 8 kPa), after 72 hours. Cell bodies and neurites are falsely coloured blue to provide better contrast from the underlying gel. Scale bar represents 400 μm (left). Quantification of the number of neurites in a 0.8 mm2 area (right) (n=4/sample, 5 random fields/sample) (p(*)=0.0194).

(c) Photomicrographs of a coculture of primary cortical astrocytes and primary cortical neurons, seeded on alginate-Matrigel IPNs of different viscoelasticity (MVEG, LVEG) and stiffness (soft, 1 kPa, and stiff, 8 kPa), after 120 hours. Cells stained for GFAP (green)/MAP2 (red)/nuclei (blue), scale bar represents 40 μm (left). Quantification of % cells positive for GFAP on each substrate (right) (n=4/sample, 8 random fields/sample) (p(***)=0.0018).

(d) Photomicrographs of a coculture of primary cortical astrocytes and primary cortical neurons, seeded on alginate-Matrigel IPNs of different viscoelasticity (MVEG, LVEG) and stiffness (soft, 1 kPa, and stiff, 8 kPa), after 120 hours. Cells stained for NeuN (green)/β3-tubulin (red)/nuclei (blue), scale bar represents 40 μm (left). Quantification of the number of neurites in a 0.8 mm2 area (right) (n=4/sample, 7 random fields/sample) (p(*)=0.0238, p(***)=0.0035).

All numerical data are presented as mean ± s.d. (one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD post hoc test, ****p<0.0001, 0.0001<***p<0.001, 0.001<**p<0.01, 0.01<*p<0.05, and non-significant, n.s., p>0.05).