Figure 3.

CGC device application in a coculture system with human fibroblast cells (HFL-1) and eosinophil model cell line (AML14.3D10) to evaluate the effect of soluble factor signaling from eosinophils on fibroblast gel contraction. (A) Schematics of the coculture configuration and workflow. (i) Fibroblast-laden collagen is loaded into the CGC device in a 24-well plate. (ii,iii) Cell culture media is pipetted in and out of retraction tube and the arm tail is pulled back into the retraction tube. (iv) The system is incubated for the collagen to gel; eosinophils are suspended in serum-free F-12K media at a concentration of 3.5 × 10⁷ cells/mL; 2 mL of serum-free media (for monoculture) or cell suspension (for coculture) is added into each well. (v,vi) Top view image is taken to measure θ_i and θ_f, respectively. (B) Coculture of fibroblasts with eosinophils augments HFL-1 collagen gel contraction in serum-free media. Each data point represents the average of three devices from an independent experiment; three independent experiments were performed. Error bars: SEM of three independent experiments; ^**indicates significantly different values according to a two-tailed paired Student's t-test (p ≤ 0.01).