Fig. 1
From: Emergent patterns of collective cell migration under tubular confinement
Formation of epithelial lumens inside PDMS microtubes. a Schematic illustration of the experimental setup. MDCK cells (blue, nuclei and yellow, cell body) are seeded on a fibronectin reservoir in front of a PDMS block containing cylindrical microtubes of different sizes. The cells start crawling into the openings of the microtubes once they are in full confluence (white arrows indicate the leading edge of the cohort and the cyan arrow, the direction of collective migration). b, c Representative SEM image (b) and optical image (c) of the microtubes embedded in the PDMS blocks (the diameters of the microtube: 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, and 250 μm from left to right). d, e Typical fluorescent z-stack projections showing groups of migrating MDCK cells inside microtubes: the cells were stained for nuclei (DAPI, blue) and in d, actin (phalloidin, red) or in e, E-cadherin (green). The cross-sectional views of the selected TCS sections in the right panels demonstrate the formation of hollow lumens inside the microtubes. Scale bars: 250 μm for b and c; 50 μm for d and e
