Fig. 1

Microspheres are taken up by HUVECs. a XZ and YZ orthogonal view of a z stack shows a cup structure of phalloidin (F-actin; red) surrounding the microsphere (white; in XZ and YZ depicted with dashed line), and F-actin- and VE-cadherin-positive “caps” on top of the microsphere. Different z planes are shown in i, ii and iii. Note the F-actin and VE-cadherin (green) surrounding the microsphere in ii, and the cap on top of the microsphere in iii. Scale bar = 10 µm. b Quantification of signal intensity for F-actin, VE-cadherin and microsphere (dark-colored lines) in the z direction shows a peak in signal intensity after z = 15 µm, which is the cap structure on top of the microsphere. Light-colored lines are signal intensity in control location, i.e. of a region where no microsphere was bound. Signal intensity was quantified from 2 to 4 images averaged from n = 3 independent experiments. Data are depicted as mean ± S.D. (dashed lines). c Three-dimensional rendering of a fibrin clot, encapsulated by the cytoskeleton with intact adherens junctions. Left panel is the view from below the cellular monolayer, middle panel is the view from above the monolayer. Right panel shows that the fibrin clot is taken up by two cells, demonstrated by the intact adherens junction between cells across the clot. Cell nuclei are blue (DAPI). Scale bar = 10 µm