Figure 4.

Morphological differences of MCF7 cells and MDA-MB-231 cells following exposure to TCDD, co-culture, or coexposure. Cells were grown with hMADS and/or treated with 25 nM TCDD [Control (vehicle MCF-7 cells, alone), TCDD (MCF-7 cells treated with 25nM TCDD), co-culture (MCF-7 co-cultured with hMADS), and coexposure (co-culture with TCDD)]. After 48 h treatment, cells were fixed and stained for paxillin, actin, and nucleus (blue). (A) Staining of MCF7 cells. Scale bar 20μm. (B) Quantitation of MCF7 cell number and giant cells (very large cells with multiple nuclei) per field (n=3) field per conditions. Graph represents means±SEM of three experiments. The numerical information mean±SEM and p-values are provided in Table S4. Kruskal–Wallis’s H test (nonparametric comparison of k independent series) followed by a 1-factor ANOVA test (parametric comparison of k independent series, *p<0.05). (C) Staining of MDA-MB-231. Scale bar 20μm. Symbols were used to point out the focal adhesions (arrow), lamellipods (*) and giant cells (#). Note: ANOVA, analysis of variance; SEM, standard error of the mean; TCDD, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.