Fig. 2. Cell–cell communication and network formation: (A–C) hMSCs on a soft gel at the seeding density 1 K, 4 K and 8 K cm–2 respectively. At a higher seeding density, cells start to form cell–cell contacts and create a network (B and B inset). At an even higher density, they form a monolayer (C and C inset) (inset scale 500 μm). (D) Cells at 1 K seeding density. Even at this low seeding density, a few pairs of cells form connections or extended directed protrusions (DP) towards each other. Arrows show a pair of cells with directed protrusions (DP+) and a single cell without any protrusion (DP–). (E) Cell number distribution against the distance from the nearest neighbour.
