Fig. 5
From: Matrix degradability controls multicellularity of 3D cell migration
Matrix degradability controls angiogenic sprout multicellularity. a HUVECs invading into DexMA gels crosslinked with NCD and LD peptide sequences. Crosslinker concentration was kept constant at 16 mM to ensure comparable gel stiffness (1000 Pa). b Sprout multicellularity of DexMA gels crosslinked with NCD and LD sequence. c HUVECs invading into soft (16 mM NCD crosslinker) DexMA gels in the presence of a broad spectrum MMP inhibitor, Marimastat, or DMSO carrier only. d Sprout multicellularity with and without Marimastat treatment. e HUVECs invading into intermediate (26 mM NCD crosslinker) DexMA gels with varying S1P concentration. f Sprout multicellularity as a function of S1P concentration. a, c, and e contain composite fluorescence images showing F-actin (cyan) and nuclei (magenta) (scale bar, 100 μm). The % of sprouts possessing six or more nuclei was used as a metric for sprout multicellularity in (b, d, f), and all data are presented as a mean ± s.d. and significance was determined from a *P < 0.05
