Fig. 1

Experimental setup and growth of ovarian cancer cells cultured on top of collagen gels in a 96-well plate. a. Two cell lines, SKOV-3 and OVCAR-5, were cultured on the top of collagen gel overlaid 96 well plates for 6 days and treatment with active compounds for 6 days. On day 11, Alamar blue was added for overnight and the change of colour as the indication of cellular metabolism was examined on day 12. b OVCAR-5 cells grew on top of the gel as a compact sheet without the projection of filopodia suggesting this cell line is non invasive cancer cells (a). SKOV-3 cells showed the formation of filopodia at the invasive front of cells (b, arrow) and there was an appearance of actin bundles accumulation of invasive cells (b, arrow head). The invasive SKOV-3 cells displayed mesenchylmal morphological appearance (c, arrows). Red is actin staining and blue is the nucleus