Supporting the irreversibility of these diabetes-related impairments, the hydrogel scaffold used in this work was created specifically to recapitulate the stem cell niche and has been previously shown to enhance the pro-vasculogenic cytokine secretion (VEGF, MCP-1, FGF-1, MMPs, etc.)of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs), improve BM-MSC survival and engraftment within the high-oxidative-stress environment of ischemic murine skin wounds, and ultimately increase the angiogenic effect and wound-healing potential of BM-MSC-based therapies[7,8]. Here, VEGFA is linked to diabetes mellitus.