Figure 5.

Reactivity of myofibroblasts derived from NA and AS HBF to an electric field. (A–B) AS HBF are compared to NA HBF before and after 5 days of stimulation with TGF-β (5 ng/mL) to induce a fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition (FMT). (A) Images of cell morphology obtained via modulation contrast. Scale bar—100 μm. (B) Immunodetection of α-SMA (green). Images obtained via fluorescence microscopy. Cells are counterstained for cell nuclei (blue). Scale bar—50 μm. (C) The quantitative parameters that define the migratory activities and orientations of AS HBF and NA HBF that underwent FMT both without and in the presence of a 3 V/cm dcEF applied for 8 h. Mean values for the cell population ± SEM. * statistically significant differences between myofibroblasts (n = 20) and undifferentiated (n = 50) cells (p < 0.05).