Fig. 3.

Primary breast tumors from lymph node positive (${\mathrm{LN}}^{+}$) patients contained denser Col1 fibers than primary tumors from ${\mathrm{LN}}^{-}$ patients. Shown are representative SHG Col1 fiber (red) images from an ${\mathrm{LN}}^{-}$ patient (a) and an ${\mathrm{LN}}^{+}$ patient (b). Nuclei were counterstained with Hoechst (green). Each image size is 339 by 339 μm; one $z$-plane is displayed. The scale bars represent 50 μm. ${\mathrm{LN}}^{-}$ patients ($n=6$) displayed significantly ($P=0.0036$) decreased fiber volume (c) and a trend ($P=0.0807$) toward increased inter-fiber distance (d) compared to ${\mathrm{LN}}^{+}$ patients ($n=8$). Values are $\text{mean}\pm \text{standard deviation}$.