Figure 2.

HERS spheroids enhanced the stem cell traits of HERS cells. (A) The CFU assay was conducted to compare the colony formation ratio between the 2D monolayer HERS cells and HERS spheroids. More cell colonies (purple dots) can be observed in the HERS spheroids groups. (B) Immunofluorescence staining images showed that both the ratio and intensity of Nanog-, Sox2-, and Oct4 (green)-positive cells in HERS spheroids were higher than in 2D monolayer HERS cells. Nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). (C) The proportion of Nanog-, Sox2-, and Oct4-positive cells in HERS spheroids and 2D monolayer HERS cell groups were quantified. (D) RT-qPCR analysis of the relative expression of Nanog, Sox2, and Oct4. Scale bars are shown, *** P < 0.001; ** P< 0.01; * P < 0.05.