Fig. 8

Characterisation of growth and morphology of simultaneously seeded mono and co-cultured spheroids from primary patient cells. Primary ovarian cancer cells and human peritoneal fibroblasts of the same patent were seeded stained or unstained simultaneously into ULA plate and grown for 96 h. Spheroids were cultured in mono-culture and in co-culture with ovarian cancer cells and different cell numbers of fibroblasts. After growth, various assays were performed. (A) Representative microscopic images of mono-cultured and co-cultured spheroids after 96 h of growth. Scale bar 500 μm. (B) Representative microscopic images of mono-cultured and co-cultured spheroids at 24-hour intervals. Scale bar 500 μm. (C) Quantitative differences in the size of spheroids after 96 h of growth, one-way ANOVA, * (p < 0.05). (D) Spheroid surface were analysed by scanning electron microscopy after 96 h of growth. Scale bar 50 μm. (E) Prior to cultivation, the cells were stained with different fluorescence dyes in order to subsequently assign them to a cell type during cultivation. These spheroids were then imaged after 96 h using LSM. Red/Cell Tracker Deep Red: ovarian cancer cells; green/CellTracker Green CMFDA: fibroblasts. Scale bar 200 μm.