Fig. 6.

Assessment of lymphatic cells due to physical cues within the lymphangion-chip. (A) LMC alignment under monoculture versus LEC–LMC co-culture conditions. LMCs (green) tend to orient mostly axially in monoculture. In contrast, co-cultured with LECs (red), LMCs align circumferentially which is closer to in vivo conditions (green: α-smooth muscle actin; red: Lyve-1). (B) The polar histograms of LEC and LMC alignment under three conditions: no flow, low shear, and normal shear. LMCs orient more circumferentially under normal shear conditions (i.e., higher shear rate) while LECs orient in the flow direction. Heatmaps of (C) LEC and (D) LMC mean orientation angle in monoculture and co-culture while being exposed to no flow, low shear, or normal shear conditions. All scale bars: 200 μm; n = 5 for all experiments.