Table 3.
Scoring of the tissue preservation and structural integrity of explant cultures. H&E images of the normal breast tissues and breast cancer explant tissues cultured with and without hydrogel embedding over a period of 3 weeks were scored by a pathologist using the following scoring system: Score 5—Pristine; Score 4—Minor nuclear and cytoplasmic changes (enlargement and vesiculation); Score 3—Easily identifiable nuclear and cytoplasmic changes; Score 2—Significant degenerative changes (pyknosis, cytoplasmic blurring); Score 1—Complete loss of cellular detail (loss of nuclei and abundant debris)
| Breast explant samples | Normal breast | Breast cancer | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NB‐1 | NB‐2 | NB‐3 | BC‐1 | BC‐2 | BC‐3 | BC‐4 | BC‐5 | ||
| Day 1 | d1_noGel‐BEM | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| d1_noGel‐MEGM | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| d1_PEG‐BEM | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| d1_PEG‐MEGM | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Day 7 | d7_noGel‐BEM | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| d7_noGel‐MEGM | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| d7_PEG‐BEM | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| d7_PEG‐MEGM | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| Day 14 | d14_noGel‐BEM | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| d14_noGel‐MEGM | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| d14_PEG‐BEM | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| d14_PEG‐MEGM | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| Day 21 | d21_noGel‐BEM | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| d21_noGel‐MEGM | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| d21_PEG‐BEM | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| d21_PEG‐MEGM | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |