Confocal microscopy showing cellular morphology of HCFs, T1DMs, and T2DMs when cultured in our 3D constructs.
(A-C) Representative images of HCFs, T1DMs, and T2DMs stained with Phalloidin (red) and DAPI (blue). (A) HCF cells morphology showed uniform fibril diameter with regular spacing. (B) T1DM cells showed thin fibril morphology with no interfibrillar spacing. (C) T2DM cells morphology also showed lack of fibrils organization and arrangement. (D) Quantification of the construct thickness in HCFs, T1DMs, and T2DMs. (E) Cells per unit area (mm2) in HCFs, T1DMs, and T2DMs. For all the three cell types a minimum of 4 confocal z-stack images were used, which were averaged, plotted and analyzed by Graph Pad Prism 6 software. Error bars represent standard error of the mean. One-way ANOVA was performed (* = p≤0.05; ** = p≤0.01; *** = p≤0.001; **** = p≤0.0001).