Figure 5
Effect of 3D compression on fusion in BeWo spheroids, induced with ( +)/without (-) forskolin (24 µM) and/or dextran for 2 days. (A) Schematic illustrating the 3D compression experiment performed using dextran molecules. (B–E) Representative fluorescent images of a slice of BeWo cells from spheroids subjected to various conditions. Scale bar is 100 µm; green: Syndecan-1, red: β-hCG. (F) Trend of quantified average compressive strain in spheroids subjected to various conditions at several time points over 48 h. (G,H) Quantification of fusion using Syndecan-1 and β-hCG markers. (Data presented as mean ± standard deviation; n = 3 spheroids per condition, *p < 0.05 by two-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey’s test).
