Figure 1.

3D co-culture model that recapitulates different tumor microenvironments. (a) Photograph of the co-culture model (Scale bar = 10 mm). (b) Schematic magnification of the device, top view (left) and cross-section view (right), showing the basic components of the microenvironment that are included in the model. The matrix and embedded fibroblast composition are tailored to mimic different microenvironments. (c) Top view image showing MDA-MB-231s (green) co-cultures with normal fibroblasts (purple) or cancer-associated-fibroblasts (red) 1h after seeding. (d) Collagen I matrix is supplemented with 100 μg/mL fibronectin to mimic a tumor-like microenvironment. Visualization of the matrix was performed where collagen fibers are shown in green and were visualized by Second Harmonic Generation imaging (left). Immunofluorescence staining was performed on gels to detect the presence of fibronectin, as shown in red (middle). The composite image shows some fibers overlapping (right).