Figure 2

Generation of epithelial-myoepithelial co-units. Cell populations were cultured in collagen gels for seven days with preaggregation of the luminal cell population. (a) (a)i MCF-7 cells alone formed tight spheres whereas (a)ii luminal cells formed loosely cohesive structures. Co-culture of (a)iii primary luminal/myoepithelial cells and (a)iv MCF-7/myoepithelial cells showed organisation of the myoepithelial cells (cell trackered in red) around the luminal population (nuclear labelling blue with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI)) forming a dual-cell co-unit. Co-unit formation was shown to be myoepithelial specific by the lack of organisation of (a)v luminal cells (cell trackered red) around pre-aggregated MCF-7 cells. A time course to show co-unit formation from cells without prior preaggregation was performed. (b) At (b)i,ii day 1 and (b)iii,iv day 3 MCF-7 cells and primary myoepithelial cells were intermingled. At (b)v,vi day 5 cells began to aggregate and by (b)vii,viii day 7 co-units were formed suggesting that organisation of co-units is through an active homing process.