Fig. 4
From: Morphological and functional analysis of colorectal cancer cell lines in 2D and 3D culture models
Characteristic morphological images of colorectal adenocarcinoma (CRAC) cells cultured in 2D culture. (a) Phase contrast microscopy showed that CRAC cells exhibited two types of morphology: polymorphic and spherical (arrows), with each cell line exhibiting similar morphology to the other. (b) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that the CRAC cells were polymorphic and had numerous microvilli around the cells, which also adhered to each other. Arrows indicate spherical proliferating cells. (c) Examination of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained cell blocks revealed cancer cells with marked atypical nuclei in CACO-2 and COLO-320 cells (arrowheads) (scale bars: a = 50 μm, b = 20 μm, c = 50 μm).
