Figure 4

Conditioned media from human mammary fibroblasts (HMFs) exposed to activin A enhance motility of epithelial cells. RM111 and RM124 HMFs were grown in 5% serum for 24 hours and treated with activin A or vehicle. Medium was conditioned for 48 hours after addition of activin A. Conditioned medium or unconditioned medium containing activin A or vehicle was diluted 1:2 (vol/vol) in MEGM and added to RM15 vHMEC confluent monolayers. After 24 hours, monolayers were "wounded" with a pipette tip, and photographed at 4-hour intervals for 28 hours. (A) Representative images of vHMECs exposed to conditioned media from HMFs treated with activin A or vehicle, or unconditioned medium containing activin A or vehicle. (B) Kinetics of vHMEC "wound" closure on exposure to HMF-conditioned medium (dashed lines) or medium alone (solid lines). Representative trends of duplicate analyses in both HMFs are presented. Red line, 50% of "wound" open.