Figure 4.
LCST induces ELP aggregation within HELP-SPAAC gels and alters gel opacity. A) Representative photographs demonstrating gel opacity at specific times for the three temperature profiles shown in Figure 3; initial temperature = Ti, final temperature = Tf. B) Final gel transmittance at Tf for all gel formulations crosslinked using the three temperature profiles (n = 4, data are averages ± standard deviation, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001, two-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc test). C) Representative transmittance over time for the three temperature profiles and each of the three HELP-SPAAC gel formulations. D) 3D reconstruction of CARS images of HELP-SPAAC gels crosslinked with temperature profile II. Regions of bright intensity are protein-rich ELP aggregates. E) Quantification of CARS data showing volume percentage of gel occupied by ELP-rich aggregates for all gel formulations crosslinked using the three temperature profiles (n = 5, data are averages ± standard deviation, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001, two-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc test). F) Quantification of CARS data showing number of ELP-rich aggregates for all gel formulations crosslinked using the three temperature profiles (n = 5, data are averages ± standard deviation, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001, two-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc test).