Fig. 6.

Effect of macrophages on fibroblast proliferation on PDMS and platinum surfaces. Macrophages and fibroblasts were co-cultured or fibroblasts were cultured in the absence of macrophages (control). Cell proliferation was measured as the percentage of fibroblasts with EdU-expressing (red) nuclei. Macrophages were labeled with anti-F4/80 antibody (not shown in these images) and fibroblasts were labeled with anti-vimentin antibody (green). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). In the PDMS condition, macrophage-fibroblast co-cultures, either treated or not treated with LPS demonstrated increased fibroblast proliferation relative to the fibroblast-only control condition) (G) p = 0.005 and p = 0.043, respectively. There was a trend toward increased EdU incorporation in the PDMS + LPS group relative to the PDMS − LPS group, however this trend did not reach statistical significance, p = 0.098. In the platinum condition, there were no significant differences in fibroblast proliferation between macrophage-fibroblast co-cultures + LPS, − LPS and control conditions (H), p = 0.38. The experiment was repeated with at least 3 separate cultures. Error bars present standard error.