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. 2018 Oct 17;301(10):1657–1667. doi: 10.1002/ar.23919

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Self‐alignment of HUVECs and formation of tube‐like structures within tethered collagen gels. Confocal micrographs (A(i)) and immunofluorescence images (A(ii)) show aligned HUVECs forming vascular networks after 2, 4, and 8 days in culture, z‐distance 20 μm, step size 1 μm. Three‐dimensional image analysis was used to calculate the angle of deviation between HUVEC/tube alignment and the longitudinal axis of the gel (B). Boxes show interquartile range and median values, whiskers indicate maximum and minimum angles (N = 3 gels). The length of tube‐like structures (C), shape factor which determine how round the object is (values closer to 1 indicate more rounded shape) (D) and surface area (E) were compared in 2‐day, 4‐day, and 8‐day cultured gels. Graphs show mean value ± SEM. (N = 3 gels). Scale bars in (A(i)) = 120 μm and in (A(ii)) = 100 μm.