Angiogenesis Assays

Abstract

Neoangiogenesis constitutes one of the first steps of tumor progression beyond a critical size of tumor growth, which supplies a dormant mass of cancerous cells with the required nutrient supply and gaseous exchange through blood vessels essentially needed for their sustained and aggressive growth. In order to understand any biological process, it becomes imperative that we use models, which could mimic the actual biological system as closely as possible. Hence, finding the most appropriate model is always a vital part of any experimental design. Angiogenesis research has also been much affected due to lack of simple, reliable, and relevant models which could be easily quantitated. The angiogenesis models have been used extensively for studying the action of various molecules for agonist or antagonistic behaviour and associated mechanisms. Here, we have described two protocols or models which have been popularly utilized for studying angiogenic parameters. Rat aortic ring assay tends to bridge the gap between in vitro and in vivo models. The chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay is one of the most utilized in vivo model system for angiogenesis-related studies. The CAM is highly vascularized tissue of the avian embryo and serves as a good model to study the effects of various test compounds on neoangiogenesis.