Fig. 8.

Influence of cell–ECM and cell–cell interactions on spheroid fusion. For studying cell–matrix interactions, the function of integrins was inhibited with an anti-integrin functional grade antibody in fusing spheroids in capillary tubes. Results showed that spheroids with functional inhibition of integrins had tissue construct sizes that were 85% of the initial sizes after 48 h. Results demonstrated that spheroids with functional inhibition of cadherins had tissue construct sizes that were 81% of the initial sizes after 48 h. Control spheroids without fusion inhibition had tissue construct sizes that were 68% of the initial, and these results were statistically significantly smaller than anti-integrin and anti-cadherin spheroids (P < 0.05, as indicated by “*”), which demonstrates that cell–matrix and cell– cell proteins do play a role in tissue fusion.