Fig. 2: Hydrogels with increasing plasticity promote sprouting and branching of encapsulated endothelial cells (ECs). | Nature Communications

Fig. 2: Hydrogels with increasing plasticity promote sprouting and branching of encapsulated endothelial cells (ECs).

From: Hydrogels with tunable mechanical plasticity regulate endothelial cell outgrowth in vasculogenesis and angiogenesis

Fig. 2

a Representative confocal immunofluorescent images show morphology changes of encapsulated ECs in HP, MP, and LP hydrogels along 72 h in incubation (F-actin in red and nuclei in blue). Scale bar: 25 µm. b Representative orthogonal images of luminal structures (indicated with asterisks) in HP and MP hydrogels after 72 h in incubation (F-actin in red and nuclei in blue). Scale bar: 25 µm. c The circularity of ECs in HP, MP, and LP hydrogels after 6 h in incubation (from left to right n = 17, 15, 16 cells). d–g Quantitative analysis of vascular tube formation of 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h in HP, MP, and LP hydrogels including d mean tube thickness (from left to right n = 7, 7, 3), e master tube length (n = 3), f the number of master junctions (n = 3), and g vessel areas (n = 3). All the data are presented as mean values ± SEM from three independent experiments. Two-tailed Student’s t-tests are used to assess statistical significance.

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