Fig. 2

Activation of PSCs co-cultured with 3D tumor spheroids. Changes in morphology (a) and α-SMA expression level (b) of PSCs when co-cultured with PANC-1 tumor spheroids. Cells were grown for 5 days before all measurements. Optical sections were acquired at 6 μm intervals and stacked into a z-projection from which fluorescence intensity was calculated. Data are expressed as the mean ± SE of 3 independent experiments. Scale bars, 100 μm; Student’s t-test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. PSCs, pancreatic stellate cells; α-SMA, alpha smooth muscle actin