Figure 1: Characterization of polyacrylamide (PAA) beads. | Nature Communications

Figure 1: Characterization of polyacrylamide (PAA) beads.

From: Cell-like pressure sensors reveal increase of mechanical stress towards the core of multicellular spheroids under compression

Figure 1

(a) Bright-field image of polymerized PAA beads after filtration. Scale bar, 50 μm. (b) Fluorescence image of PAA microbeads containing trapped large polymers functionalized with FITC; scale bar, 50 μm. (c) Fluorescence image of coating of PAA beads with Cy3-Fibronectin; scale bar, 50 μm. (d) Distribution of size of polyacrylamide beads in dependance on the concentration of PFPE-PEG surfactant (1, 3 and 5%) during initial vortexing. (e) Characteristic diffusion time of SRB molecules, using FCS, within gels indicated uniformity of beads (small dispearsion) and mechanical properties. Small time of diffusion is characteristic for soft gels and increases with the volume fraction. Gels are defined by the acrylamide/bisacrylamide ratio. On the right, for 5/0.225 gels we show the effect of mixing on the uniformity of the batch. Each point corresponds to a single mesure of the diffusion time within the bead. (f) Uniformity and reproducibility is maintained between batches (sample 1, sample 2 and sample 3) of the same acrylamide/bisacrylamide ratio (5/0.225). (e,f) Mean±s.d.

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