Fig. 5
From: Fibrotic microtissue array to predict anti-fibrosis drug efficacy
Anti-fibrosis drug efficacy under preventative treatment. a Overview of the strategy for preventative anti-fibrosis treatment and evaluation of the anti-fibrosis efficacy based on the measurement of biomarker expression and tissue mechanical properties. Pirfenidone (Pirf.) and Nintedanib (Nint.) were co-administered with TGF-β1 at the beginning of experiments and remained throughout the 6 day treatment period. b Representative immunofluorescence images of nuclei, α-SMA and pro-collagen of microtissues at day 6, with or without preventative anti-fibrosis treatments. Scale bar is 200 µm. c Plot of tissue-level fluorescence intensity of α-SMA and pro-collagen at day 6. d Time-lapsed measurement of microtissue contractile force. e Representative fluorescent images of collagen type-I of TGF- β1-treated and Pirf.-treated long microtissues. Zoom-in views showed that dilation of opening was inhibited by Pirf. treatment. Scale bar is 500 µm. f Time-lapsed plot of the percentage microtissue area occupied by the tissue openings. Pirfenidone treatment almost completely inhibited opening dilation at day 6. g Plot of the microtissue stiffness measured by tensile test at day 6. h Plot of the microtissue compliance measured at day 6. Data are reported as the mean ± SD. n ≥ 10; *P < 0.05 when compared to TGF-β1-treated condition; **P < 0.001 when compared to TGF-β1-treated condition. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA with Tukey test
