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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jul 15.
Published in final edited form as: Acta Biomater. 2021 May 7;129:96–109. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2021.04.053

Figure 1: Intravital imaging of cells interacting with and deforming stromal fibers.

Figure 1:

A) A representative intravital image from a MMTV-PyMT mouse mammary tumor show both random and align collagen (white) fibers within the tumor stroma. Adipose (+) and tumor (*) cells are visualized within close proximity of each other in regions of random fiber configuration while bundles of aligned fibers can be visualized extending perpendicular to tumor mass (arrow). B) Images from time lapse intravital movies show cells migrating within tumor microenvironment (TME). The inset (yellow box) highlights a migrating cell (red) deforming an individual fiber (arrowhead). C) Intravital image from a GFP-LifeAct-MDA-MB-231 tumor in the mammary fat pad. The timepoint insets (yellow box) highlight cells contacting and displacing an aligned collagen fiber from a perpendicular (*) or migrate in a parallel orientation (+) to straightened fibers within the TME. The perpendicular cell (*) extends a protrusion onto a collagen fiber and deforms the fiber. Arrowhead (yellow) indicates point of contact and deformation.