Figure 3.

Primary cytokine production by monocytes in 2D vs. 3D culture. Production of the inflammatory cytokines TNFα and IL-6 (upper panels), of the chemokine IL-8 (lower left panel) and of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-1Ra (lower right panel) by monocytes of six individual donors stimulated for 24 h with culture medium alone (medium) or containing 1 ng/mL LPS (LPS) or 1 μg/mL AuNPs (AuNP). Parallel 2D (blue) and 3D (purple) cultures were established. Results are expressed in ng/10⁶ cells. The violin plots represent the distribution of the individual donors’ values in each experimental condition. The red line indicates the median value, and the yellow lines the first and third quartiles. Individual donors are represented with different symbols: ◇ donor 1; ■ donor 2; Δ donor 3; ▼ donor 4; ☐ donor 5; ● donor 6. Statistical significance was assessed with the paired one-tailed non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. LPS stimulation induced a significant increase (p < 0.05) of TNFα, IL-6 and IL-8 vs. medium controls. All other differences, including the 2D vs. 3D comparisons, were not significant.