Fig. 5.

Neovascularization influenced by HCEps, HCSCs, and HCECs treated with LPS.

HCEps, HCSCs, and HCECs were incubated in the absence or presence of LPS (5 μg/ml) for 48 h. The medium was then replaced with fresh medium. After further incubating for 24 h, the cell supernatants were collected. HUVECs (a) and HLECs (b) were plated on the surface of Matrigel in complete media mixed with 200 μl of the supernatants of LPS-treated HCEps, HCSCs, and HCECs, respectively. Tube formation was evaluated after 4 h. The representative images of three separate assays are shown. Data represent the mean tube length ± SD, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. (c) HUVECs spheroids formed from 4000 cells were embedded in collagen and overlaid with the supernatants of LPS-treated HCEps, HCSCs, and HCECs, respectively. The sprouting degree was measured after 30 h. Scale bar = 200 μm.