Fig. 1

Effect of PSC co-culture on growth of PANC-1 spheroids. a Formation of PANC-1 spheroids in a collagen-supported microchannel plate when cultured. b Comparison of growth of PANC-1 spheroids over 5 days with (co-culture) or without (mono-culture) PSCs. c Comparison of morphology and structure of spheroids generated using pancreatic, hepatic and colorectal cancer cells. Cells were grown for 5 days in collagen-supported microchannel plates to form 3D spheroids and stained for nuclei (DAPI; blue) and F-actin (red); Scale bar, 50 μm. Cell aggregates of diameter larger than 40 μm were defined as spheroids. Optical sections were acquired at 2 μm intervals and stacked into a z-projection. Data are expressed as the mean ± SE of three independent experiments. Student’s t-test, * p < 0.05. PSCs, pancreatic stellate cells; TS, tumor spheroids