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. 2020 Jan 16;174(2):266–277. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfaa003

Figure 4.

Figure 4.

Growth arresting fibroblasts maintains hepatocyte island integrity in a similar way as intermittent starvation. Micropatterned cocultures (MPCCs) were created using either proliferative fibroblasts for the nonstarved and starved (as described in Figure 1B) conditions or growth-arrested (GA) fibroblasts via mitomycin-C. (A) Fibroblast nuclei count between PHH islands in 6-week-old MPCCs (3 different models described above) as assessed via live cell imaging of nuclei using Hoechst 33342 staining. (B) Measurement of PHH island solidity over time and (C) representative phase contrast images of PHH island edges outlined in white in the 3 different models above over time. White arrows indicate fibroblasts invading the PHH island. The 1-week time-point shown in panel ‘B' is for the nonstarved MPCCs. Solidity is measured as island area/convex hull area. Scale bars on images represent 50 µm. *p < .05, **p ≤ .01, ***p ≤ .001, and ****p ≤ .0001 relative to the nonstarved control. Abbreviation: PHH, primary human hepatocyte.