Figure 11.

Morphogenetic behavior of parental and transfected bEnd.3 cells in three-dimensional fibrin gels. Cells were seeded into fibrin gels, grown in the absence (A, C, and E) or presence (B, D, and F) of Trasylol, and photographed by phase contrast microscopy after 2 days. (G) Parental bEnd.3 cells (A and B), bEnd.3/3243H7 (C and D), and bEnd.3/Cx43βGal (E and F) cells formed cysts whose formation could be inhibited by the serine protease inhibitor (B, D, and F). Bar, 120 μm. (G) The surface area of cysts formed of parental bEnd.3 cells, bEnd.3/3243H7, and bEnd.3/Cx43βGal cells was measured after 2 (black bars) and 4 (gray bars) days of culture. Average surface areas of different cells types are not significantly (p < 0.05) different from each other at either culture time. Numbers between in indicate the number of cysts measured.