Figure 3.

Vascular patterns in normal mammary tissue and in tumors. (A, B): z-Stack images of cells and vessels in normal mammary tissues acquired using two-photon microscopy are shown. Nuclei are labeled with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, cyan), and vessels are labeled with lectin (red). A mammary bud (A) and duct (B) can be clearly seen in the microscope images. DAPI and tomato lectin were simultaneously excited with an 830-nm laser, and their emission signals were collected using two separate band-pass filters. (C, D): Images from confocal z-stacks taken from serial sections of a T1 tumor. The nuclei are labeled with DAPI (cyan), and the vessels are labeled with tomato lectin (red). (E, F): The two-photon z-stacks show the vascular morphologies in normal mammary tissues ([E], SCID/Beige mice) and in a xenograft BCM-3204 (from a triple-negative breast cancer patient) of SCID/Beige mouse (F). The vessels are labeled with tomato lectin (red), and the nuclei are labeled with DAPI (cyan). DAPI and lectin were simultaneously excited using an 830-nm laser, and the emission signals were collected using two separate band-pass filters. Tumor vessel segments (F) have a broad range of diameters and tortuous vessel segments of different diameters and lengths.