Abstract

As normal epithelial cells are embedded in a three-dimensional (3D) collagen gel, the cells proliferate to form spherical cysts with a hollow apical lumen surrounded by polarized cells [1]. These 3D cell cultures are a more natural environment for cells than conventional two-dimensional cultures. Abnormal cells that fail to assemble properly a basement membrane grow as an unpolarized or partially polarized cell mass [2]. Also, many tumor cells are resistant to anoikis and therefore continue to proliferate when trapped inside the apical lumen. Quantitative analysis of these complex 3D structures generally requires confocal microscopy that relies on fluorescent labels introduced into the cells, and high intensity lasers that are required to capture confocal stacks. Post-processing images in the stack allows measuring the sizes of the cyst lumens. Confocal microscopic imaging is not instantaneous and produces large amount of data.

© 2015 IEEE