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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jul 20.
Published in final edited form as: Phys Biol. 2011 Mar 25;8(2):026013. doi: 10.1088/1478-3975/8/2/026013

Figure 3. SAP Gels Support Epithelial Morphogenesis and Direct Apical-Basal Tissue Polarity.

Figure 3

A) (top) Phase contrast images of representative multi-cellular MEC acini following growth within reconstituted basement membrane (rBM, Matrigel), type I collagen gels mixed with 10% rBM, or SAPs containing 100 μg/ml laminin for 20 days. (bottom) Laser confocal immunofluorescence images of cryosections (10 μm) of multi-cellular MEC colonies stained with DAPI to reveal nuclei (blue) showing presence of cleared lumens in acini generated in all gel conditions as described above. Bar equals 25 μm B) Line graphs showing growth curves for mammary colonies grown within rBM (green diamond), type 1 collagen gels mixed with 10% rBM (orange box) and SAPs supplemented either with laminin (red circle) or rBM (blue triangle). C) Bar graphs showing quantification of cleared lumens in mammary acini grown in rBM, type 1 collagen gels mixed with 10% rBM and SAPs supplemented either with laminin or rBM (differences in the diameters were not statistically significant). D) Laser confocal immunofluorescence images of cryosections (10 μm) of multi-cellular acini generated in SAPs supplemented with laminin stained with (left image) β4 integrin (green), (middle image) β-catenin (green) and β1 integrin (red) and (right image) fibronectin (green) and β1 integrin. All colonies were counter stained with DAPI (blue) to reveal nuclei. Bar equals 30 μm. Values shown in B and C represent mean ± SEM of multiple measurements from at least 3 independent experiments.