Fig. 1. Experimental design to study DC differentiation from monocytes under the effects of matrix density and RPM conditioning.
Monocytes (THP-1) were cultured with iDC or mDC differentiation cocktail in 1 mg/mL (loose) and 3 mg/mL (dense) 3D collagen matrices either under static or RPM conditions for 3 days. iDCs and mDCs were then assessed for phenotypic changes by analysis of surface markers, cytokine secretion, and RNA sequencing. Following this differentiation, FITC-OVA was added to iDCs for 1 h under the same conditions to assess functional uptake ability. T cells were cocultured with mDCs for an additional 3 days, either under static or RPM conditions to determine the effects on mDC function in terms of activating T cells and changes in cytokine secretion. The scale bar represents 25 µm.