Fig. 5: Fracture-induced spatial patterns of the NPmoc-F(F)F/agarose composite hydrogel.

a, b Low-magnified CLSM images of NPmoc-F(F)F/Alx488-Agarose composite hydrogel: a before and b after incubation for 24 h. Line plot analyses along the white lines are shown on the right side of each image. PCC: Pearson’s correlation coefficient, FL intensity: fluorescence intensity, a.u.: arbitrary units. c Schematic illustration of fracture-induced network remodeling. d Time-lapse CLSM imaging of the punctured NPmoc-F(F)F/Alx488-Agarose composite hydrogel. e Time-course change of the FL intensity of TMR-Gua inside and outside the pinhole. Regions of interest were shown in Supplementary Fig. 31a. f Fracture-induced spatial gel patterning with designer 3D printed microneedle stamps. (Left) A photograph of a microneedle stamp with a dot–grid pattern and a composite hydrogel (middle) immediately and (right) 16 h after punctuation. g 3D CLSM images of the patterned hydrogel. h (Top) A photograph of a microneedle stamp with a concentric pattern. (Bottom) An illustration of the side view of the stamp. i CLSM images and j xz-sectional images of the hydrogel patterned by the concentric-patterned stamp. Magenta: supramolecular network, green: agarose network. Conditions: [NPmoc-F(F)F] = 0.4 wt% (7.0 mM), [Alx488-Agarose] = 0.5 wt%, [TMR-Gua] = 14 µM, solvent: 100 mM MES pH 7.0, rt. Scale bar: 500 µm a, b, 200 µm d, 2 mm f, h, 300 µm g, and 1 mm i, j.