Figure 5
From: Fibroblast-associated tumour microenvironment induces vascular structure-networked tumouroid
Screening of anti-cancer drugs on multicellular tumour spheroids (MCTSs) without and with fibroblasts. (a) Live and dead cells (green represents calcein-AM staining, indicating live cells, and red represents ethidium homodimer staining, indicating dead cells) after treatment of MCTSs with paclitaxel (Taxol) or a drug combination (paclitaxel + gemcitabine), administered as part of the medium flowing through the microfluidic device, without and with NIH3T3 fibroblasts. Both with- and without NIH3T3 fibroblasts, the tumour spheroid morphology remained after administration of paclitaxel or the drug combination. The proportion of live cells gradually decreased over 4 days of post-day of treatment (PDT). (b) After treatment with anti-cancer drugs, there was a gradual decrease in live cells in all groups, depending on the time period of drug treatment. The percentage of live cells was lower in combination treatment groups than in paclitaxel-only groups. The percentage of live cells was higher with fibroblasts than without. (**p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001).
