Functional difference between cultured LCs and SVECs. (A) Microscopic images (original magnification ×40) of in vitro tube formation by LCs (top) and SVECs (bottom) in extracellular matrix gel 5 hours after seeding. Scale bar, 500 μm. (B) The number of intersections between the branches of the tubular network formed in a single well of a 96-well plate. (C) Fluorescent microscopic images (original magnification ×100) of phagocytosis of fluorescent polystyrene microspheres by LCs (top), SVECs (bottom). Green, microspheres; blue, DAPI. Scale bar, 200 μm. Each pair of fluorescent microscopic images of LCs and SVECs was captured using the same exposure time. The images of both panels A and C are representative of experiments repeated for more 3 times with cultured cells sorted from 5 different spleen samples.