Fig. 1

The birefringent structures in the embryoid bodies derived from H9 and induced iPS DF19-9-7T) at 8-weeks after differentiation. The liquid crystal birefringence distribution in the cortex region (CR) of the EB in (a) and sketched (b) compared to H&E histology (c). The structures of the birefringence are mainly tubular or droplet shaped with the wider-ends oriented towards the center of the EB (d). Arrows in d denote the individual ~35 μm spaced birefringent clusters from which liquid crystal tubules originate on the EB surface. Cross sectional cut exposing the tubular structures (e). The birefringence distributions in two representative cortex areas of an EB (f, g) and their respective quantifications (i, j). Representative image showing the trajectory of a tubule penetrating to the EB core when cut along the longitudinal axis (h). The scale bars are 60 μm in a and c and 300 μm in d–h