Figure 2 | Scientific Reports

Figure 2

From: Functional coupling of human pancreatic islets and liver spheroids on-a-chip: Towards a novel human ex vivo type 2 diabetes model

Figure 2

Status of pancreatic islet microtissues and liver spheroids prior to co-culture. (A) Protein expression of insulin (red) and glucagon (green) in pancreatic islet microtissues. Nuclei stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 50 µm. (B) Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) from single islet microtissues in low (2.8 mM, black dots) and high (16.8 mM, white dots) glucose. (C) Protein expression of cytokeratin 8/18 (green) and vimentin (red) in liver spheroids. Nuclei stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 50 µm. (D) Insulin receptor mRNA expression in primary human hepatocytes, liver spheroids and stellate cells alone, normalized to TATA-box-binding protein, n = 4 for liver spheroids and stellate cells, n = 2 for primary human hepatocytes. Data are means ± SD. (E) Protein expression of albumin (green) and CYP3A4 (red) in liver spheroids. Nuclei stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 50 µm. (F) Phosphorylated Akt (pAkt, serine-473) normalized to total Akt in unstimulated (black bars) and insulin-stimulated (1 nM, white bars) conditions. *p < 0.05 using unpaired two-tailed Student t test. Data shown as mean + SD, n = 3.

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