FIGURE 3.
Spheroid viability and growth. (A) Bright‐field images and viability of monospheroids generated in shaking flasks after 1 and 4 days. INS‐1 cells (left) produced uniform spheroids, whereas 1.1B4 cells (second column) needed 2 days to form stable spheroids. The hMSC‐TERTs (third column) produced small spheroids that decreased in size. Scale bar = 1000 μm. (B) Spheroid growth in shaking flasks under dynamic conditions. The INS‐1 (black squares) and 1.B4 (black circles) cells showed similar behavior, forming spheroids (d 32 = 94 μm) after 1 day. The hMSC‐TERTs (gray triangle) formed smaller spheroids (d 32 = 43 μm). In all cases, the shaking flasks restricted the spheroid size (n = 3; data are means ± STDV). 1.1B4, a cell line formed by the electrofusion of primary human pancreatic islets and PANC‐1 cells; hMSC‐TERT, human mesenchymal stromal/stem cells immortalized with reverse transcriptase telomerase; INS‐1, rat insulinoma‐1 cell line; STDV, standard deviations