FIG. 1.

Micro-mold for creating loop-ended dogbone microtissues. Computer aided design drawing of mold (A). Each dogbone has a toroid around a post (denoted by yellow arrow) at either end joined by a connecting rod (9 mm in length). The width of the connecting rod (from top to bottom, in duplicate) is 800, 600, 400, or 300 μm. The design also includes troughs (red arrow) between the dogbones to eliminate dead space and aid in more uniform cell seeding. Phase-contrast image of normal human fibroblasts (NHFs) settled in dogbone mold immediately after seeding (B). Fluorescent image of NHFs (labeled with CellTracker Green CMFDA) settled in dogbone mold immediately after seeding (C). ImageJ three-dimensional (3D) surface plot of fluorescent image showing uniform cell seeding (D). 24 images (three spanning the length of each of the eight dogbones) were stitched together to make the final images in B and C. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea