Fig. 2.

Effect of culture time and oxygen levels on PCTS: tumour slices from primary liver cancer better maintain the original tumour characteristics when cultured in atmospheric conditions. a | Slice weight (top) and LDH release (bottom) were longitudinally evaluated in PCTS cultured for 8 days in atmospheric (black) vs carbogen (blue) conditions; mean ± SD, n_pt = 9, each dot corresponds to n_PCTS = 3. b | Weight-adjusted ATP and energy charge were longitudinally quantified in tumour slices cultured in atmospheric (black) vs carbogen (blue) conditions; mean ± SD, n_pt = 4, each dot corresponds to n_PCTS = 3. The upper panel shows a representative HPLC chromatogram with peaks at retention times corresponding to the different adenosine nucleotides. c | Representative images from pt 255 of H&E staining of tumour slices cultured in carbogen and atmospheric conditions [arrows indicate epithelial cells (black), the stromal compartment (green) and non-parenchymal tumour cells (red)]. d | Representative images from pt 255 of Sirius red collagen staining in PCTS cultured in carbogen vs atmospheric conditions and corresponding quantification of collagen fraction; mean ± SD, n_pt = 4, each dot corresponds to n_PCTS = 3. e | Representative images from pt 255 of Ki67/DAPI staining in PCTS (Ki67⁺ nuclei in green) and corresponding quantification of proliferating cells; mean ± SD, n_pt = 4, each dot corresponds to n_PCTS = 3. All scale bars: 100 μm. AR: after recovery.