Hello I am currently differentiating a 3T3-L1 cell. The passage number is 17, and I've already treated the cell with differentiation media(insulin+dexamethasone+IBMX) for two days(day 0) and insulin media(day 2) for additional two days. Therefore today is the day 4. I am wondering if the big round ones are fat, or.. something else...
I attached a photo of my cell, and marked the cell. I don't think it's a lipid droplet, but why is it so round and big and.. bright??? I am so lost..
I think your differentiation rate is very low at 4 days with very few lipid droplets present. What you circle in red is not a lipid droplet, it may be cell debris.
In 3T3-L1 cell differentiation, the lipid droplet formation starts after day 4 so you have to check on day 6 and in your case, it doesn't look like lipid droplets you can confirm it by doing oil red o staining. Also, you are using a high passage (17) number of cells.
Hi Hyun,
big yellow circles do not seem to be lipid droplets. I can´t see clearly, but some of them even do not seem to be inside the cell. Try to check it.
Despite that, the small yellow points inside the cells are lipid droplets, which indicates that some differentiation is ongoing. 3t3l1 cells do not differentiate as good as primary cultures, so do not expect a high degree of maturation of cells or rapid response (look for pictures of cultures of this cell line stained with Oil Red o). Besides their low differentiation potential, we have experienced issues with some stocks of 3t3l1 cells, that differentiate less than usual. I hope it helps.
Good luck!
Thank you so much for answering everyone! I am relatively new to using this website thus I am not able to tag every single one of you!! I'm so sorry about that!!
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