HBTAEC lumen formation as indicated by VE-cadherin (red) is shear flow dependent. Cell nucleus were stained with Hoechst 33342 (blue). At low shear regions (white arrows), the red staining were intermittent indicating less VE-cadherin formation (panel A). When co-cultured with highly metastatic MDA-MB-231 tumor cells, VE-cadherin expression in HBTEAC were inhibted (panel B). The presence of less metastatic MCF-7 tumor cells did not change the formation of adherens junctions (panel C).
HBTAEC