Fig. 1.
Cell and nuclear elongation in cloned cardiac stem cells on the microgrooved substrate. (A) Cytoskeletal actin (Phalloidin, green), and nuclear (DAPI, blue) staining of SP16 cells cultured for 3 days on flat and patterned substrates (scale bar: 200 μm). (B) Scanning electron microscopy of SP16 cells (cyan, pseudocolour) aligned along the grooves (scale bar: 20 μm). (C) EdU incorporation analysis showing decreased clone SP16 proliferation on grooves (n = 3, p < 0.05, error bars indicate standard deviation). (D) Scatter plot showing the nuclear elongation (aspect ratio of nuclei elliptical fitting) as a function of each cell's alignment along the grooves (angle between long axis and grooves). Cells on patterned substrates align within 10° parallel to the grooves and are significantly more elongated, 0.49 ± 0.14 on the microgrooved surface versus 0.71 ± 0.12 (p < 10−5). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)