Mechanical testing of the alginate gels.

<p><b>A) Adhesion of the different alginate and alginate hybrid gels on three different surfaces.</b> Addition of PEG and/or HA leads to significant increase in adhesion on certain surfaces compared to alginate gel without PEG or HA (Alg2). Black bar: Teflon, dashed bar: Polystyrene, grey bar: Gelatin; <b>B) mechanical stability of alginate and alginate hybrid gels containing varying concentrations of PEG 300,000 and HA.</b> Addition of higher concentrations PEG, HA and the combination of 0.25% PEG and 0.2% HA resulted in significant lower mechanical stability compared to alginate gels without addition of HA or PEG (Alg2) (n = 3 ± SD; * p< 0,05; **p<0,01; ***p<0,001).