Characterization and Application of Carboxymethyl Chitosan-Based Bioink in Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Figure 5

Effect of crosslinker concentration on gel retraction and appearance. Images of hydrogel discs crosslinked with (a) 0.1 M, (b) 0.5 M, (c) 1 M, and (d) 2 M CaCl₂ solution. Top images in each set represent gel precursor before the final crosslinking, and bottom images represent the resulting gel after crosslinking. The chitosan/CE conjugate ratio of the samples shown is 90 : 10, and the crosslinking time is 45 min for all samples.

(a)

(b)

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