Fig. 4: Hydrogels mimicking the stiffness of native fibrotic liver affect the growth of liver organoids and promote a stress response.

a Effect of matrix stiffness on organoid formation efficiency. Graphs show individual data points derived from n = 3 independent experiments and means ± SEM, unpaired Student’s two-tailed t-test (P = 0.0017). b Representative image of organoids 3 days after embedding in PEG-RGD hydrogels of indicated stiffness. Scale bars: 100 μm. c–f Gene expression was analysed by qRT-PCR in liver organoids 6 days after embedding in PEG-RGD hydrogels with indicated stiffness. Graphs show individual data points derived from n = 3 independent experiments and means ± SEM. c (P = 0.0218); d (P = 0.0051; 0.0223; 0.0001; 0.0001; 0.0021; 0.0056); e (0.0127; 0.033). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 ***P < 0.001 unpaired Student’s two-tailed t-test (c, e) or two-way Anova (d, f). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.