Figure 6. Immunohistochemical staining of cancer-associated fibroblast-like αSMA^high cells in colonic adenocarcinoma and mucosal crypts in AOM/DSS mice with or without fucoxanthin (Fx). The nuclei (blue fluorescence) and αSMA (green fluorescence) were observed by confocal microscopy. (A, C) Representative confocal images of αSMA^high cells in the colonic adenocarcinoma and mucosal crypts, respectively. White arrowheads show particularly accumulated αSMA^high cells. Bars are 50 μm. (B, D) The expression level of αSMA per tissue area (mm²) in colonic adenocarcinoma and mucosal crypts (dotted line enclosed area) was estimated as -fold by calculating the relative imaging density by normalizing to the value of the control mice (group 2), respectively. (B) Means±SE (n=3 and 7 in group 1 and 2, respectively). No significance (n.s.) by Wilcoxon rank sum test. (D) Means±SE (n=5). *p<0.05 by one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey-Kramer test.