Fig 1.
Schematic illustration of sericin/PVA hydrogel containing VEGF-loaded nanoparticles.
Table 1.
Primer sequences for RT-qPCR of the related gene expressions.
Table 2.
Particle size and zeta potential of sericin nanoparticles.
Fig 2.
SEM image of sericin nanoparticles.
(a) 5000X and (b) 2000X magnification.
Fig 3.
Physical and mechanical properties of gelatin-coated hydrogels containing VEGF-loaded sericin nanoparticles.
(a) Swelling ratio at different times, (b) DSC thermograms, (c) organization of VEGF-loaded nanoparticles at the interfacial area of the hydrogel matrix via bound water: (I) uncoated hydrogel and (II) coated hydrogels, (d) degradation rate of the hydrogels in lysozyme solution, (e) stress at maximus, and (f) compressive strength. * represents a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05).
Fig 4.
Drug release profile of the uncoated hydrogel and gelatin-coated hydrogels.
* represents a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05).
Table 3.
The constant (k), coefficient of determination (R2), and release exponent (n) of the Higuchi, Korsmeyer-Peppas and zero-order models.
Fig 5.
Biocompatibility of gelatin-coated hydrogels containing VEGF-loaded sericin nanoparticles on cell culture after calcein AM and ethidium homodimer-1 staining.
Green color indicates living cells and red color indicates dead cells. MC3T3-E1 cells. (b) HUVEC cells.
Fig 6.
SEM images of HUVEC cell attachment on the hydrogels at magnifications of 200X and 300X.
(a) uncoated hydrogel, (b) 0.1% gelatin-coated hydrogel, (c) 1% gelatin-coated hydrogel.
Fig 7.
The effects of gelatin-coated hydrogel containing VEGF-loaded sericin nanoparticles on HUVEC cells.
(a) HUVEC cell proliferation at 7 and 14 days, (b-f) the expression of angiogenic related genes (b) HIF1-α, (c) KDR, (d) VEGF-A, (e) eNOS, (f) SDF1. * represents a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05).
Table 4.
Inhibition zone diameters of ciprofloxacin release from sericin/PVA hydrogels containing VEGF-loaded nanoparticles against bacteria.
Fig 8.
Inhibition zones of ciprofloxacin released from sericin/PVA hydrogels containing VEGF-loaded nanoparticles against bacteria.
(a) Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, (b) Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12228, (c) Escherichia coli ATCC 25922.