Organotypic Culture of Breast Tumor Explants as a Multicellular System for the Screening of Natural Compounds with Antineoplastic Potential

Figure 5

Effect of the bioactive compounds and their combination with paclitaxel on cultures of breast cancer explants. Explants from control at zero h (a) and control without any treatment cultured for 48 h (b) show poorly differentiated invasive neoplasm and no evidence of tumor necrosis areas. In contrast, in explants incubated with TX (c) and their combinations with CA (d), RA (e), and UA (f), an evident pathological response was observed, which is mainly reflected as a notable diminution of the neoplastic cells (40–80%) which can be appreciated as extensive areas of necrosis induced by treatments (dotted lines) H&E staining (10x).

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)