Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2024 Nov 26;14:29286. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-76984-9

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

© The Author(s) 2024

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

PMC Copyright notice

Fig. 2 — Communication networks and differentiation of cells in 2D and 3D cell cultures. Panel A: normal enteric neurons isolated from Wistar rats interacting with adjacent cells via neuron-somatic cell (A, B, C, E, F & H) or neuron-neuron (D & G) communication, with the contact being mediated by dendrite-like structures. Panel B: cell–cell communication among SKOV3^CP cells similar to normal tissue (neuron-like somatic cells: close-up from pictures C & D; neuron-neuron, H) via dendrite-like protoplasmic extensions. Panel C: culture of primary OC cells in 3D Geltrex gel supplemented with organoid medium. The clusters of OC cells maintained in organoid conditions revealed that in the early stages, these cells develop a neuronal appearance similar to 2D models (A-E). In this context, we observed cells with a morphology resembling colonic neuroendocrine cells of the crypts characterized by the typical basal granule accumulation (C). The neuronal nature of these cells is confirmed by the expression of βIII-tubulin (F). In 3D cultures, we observed the recapitulation of ChgA expressing cells (G, white arrows). Vimentin was widely expressed in these cultures (H), while EpCAM was differentially expressed among cell clusters (I, white arrows). The transcription factors PAX6, PAX8 and PAX9 were differentially expressed by cells within the organoids (J-L, white arrows). Panel D: Primary ovarian carcinoma 3D cell cultures with neuronal morphology and phenotype. OC236 subpopulations grow in nest-like forms with EpCAM^negative cells sorted from the EpCAM^positive fraction using immunomagnetic MicroBeads. In organoid cultures derived from EpCAM^negative fraction, cells with a neuronal phenotype, similar to those observed in 2D cell cultures (Panel C, A-C) appeared. Contrarily, in EpCAM^positive cells this phenotype is rare to find (Panel D, E–H). Of note is the tendency of EpCAM^positive cells to generate clusters similar to organoids. Pictures are representative of several experiments. Magnification is reflected in each picture.

Fig. 2 — Communication networks and differentiation of cells in 2D and 3D cell cultures. Panel A: normal enteric neurons isolated from Wistar rats interacting with adjacent cells via neuron-somatic cell (A, B, C, E, F & H) or neuron-neuron (D & G) communication, with the contact being mediated by dendrite-like structures. Panel B: cell–cell communication among SKOV3^CP cells similar to normal tissue (neuron-like somatic cells: close-up from pictures C & D; neuron-neuron, H) via dendrite-like protoplasmic extensions. Panel C: culture of primary OC cells in 3D Geltrex gel supplemented with organoid medium. The clusters of OC cells maintained in organoid conditions revealed that in the early stages, these cells develop a neuronal appearance similar to 2D models (A-E). In this context, we observed cells with a morphology resembling colonic neuroendocrine cells of the crypts characterized by the typical basal granule accumulation (C). The neuronal nature of these cells is confirmed by the expression of βIII-tubulin (F). In 3D cultures, we observed the recapitulation of ChgA expressing cells (G, white arrows). Vimentin was widely expressed in these cultures (H), while EpCAM was differentially expressed among cell clusters (I, white arrows). The transcription factors PAX6, PAX8 and PAX9 were differentially expressed by cells within the organoids (J-L, white arrows). Panel D: Primary ovarian carcinoma 3D cell cultures with neuronal morphology and phenotype. OC236 subpopulations grow in nest-like forms with EpCAM^negative cells sorted from the EpCAM^positive fraction using immunomagnetic MicroBeads. In organoid cultures derived from EpCAM^negative fraction, cells with a neuronal phenotype, similar to those observed in 2D cell cultures (Panel C, A-C) appeared. Contrarily, in EpCAM^positive cells this phenotype is rare to find (Panel D, E–H). Of note is the tendency of EpCAM^positive cells to generate clusters similar to organoids. Pictures are representative of several experiments. Magnification is reflected in each picture.