Fig. 3

Real-time rheological data (a) of native collagen (open circle G′, open square G″) and CMA (open diamond G′, “×” G″) during self-assembly and photocrosslinking. Self assembly is seen as a rise in G′ from t = 150–300 s. Photocrosslinking is seen as a large increase in G′ following 60 s UV exposure starting at t = 600 s. G′ and G″ curves shown are representative samples. Average equilibration values of G′ and G″ (b). CMA and native values were taken at t = 10 min, crosslinked (XL) CMA values are taken 10 min after UV exposure. Error bars are ±SD. Single asterisk is siginificantly different than CMA; double asterisk is significantly different than native and CMA, P<0.05, ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test