An Innovative Cell Microincubator for Drug Discovery Based on 3D Silicon Structures

Figure 5

Viability test. Fluorescence microscopy images relative to HT1080 cells grown for 48 h on 3D-SMS (in the picture, silicon walls are oriented at 45°). Cells are supravitally stained with HO and PI (see Section 2.7) and immediately observed in UV excitation as in (a) and (b). Images show the cell nuclei emitting white-blue fluorescence. The same microscope fields are illustrated in (c) and (d) with green excitation (best for PI) to identify just a few red circular spots corresponding to the nuclei of damaged (dead) cells on top of the walls. Very likely, cells inside the gaps of 3D-SMS were not stained by PI because they were alive. (a, c) 20x; (b, d) 40x.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)