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Microcirculation research, angiogenesis, and microsurgery
Author(s) -
Frank Johannes M.,
Kaneko Shino,
Joels Charles,
Tobin Gordon R.,
Banis Joseph C.,
Barker John H.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
microsurgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.031
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1098-2752
pISSN - 0738-1085
DOI - 10.1002/micr.1920150607
Subject(s) - angiogenesis , microsurgery , microcirculation , medicine , basic fibroblast growth factor , fibroblast growth factor , pathology , wound healing , blood vessel , neovascularization , surgery , growth factor , receptor
Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is essential to a variety of normal and pathologic processes such as wound healing and tumor growth. In microsurgery the development of new vessels between the transferred tissue and the recipient bed is critical to the final outcome of the reconstruction. Several experimental models have been previously developed to study angiogenesis and the effect that new substances have on regulating this process, but they lack the ability to make quantitative measurements. Therefore, we have developed an animal model using the homozygous (hr/hr) hairless mouse ear; by using intravital microscopy and computer‐assisted analysis, angiogenesis can be quantitatively measured. Using this model we showed that basic fibroblast growth factor and transforming growth factor beta significantly increased total vessel length by 32% and 63%, respectively, during 20 days following subcutaneous injection. In this paper the importance of angiogenesis research to reconstructive microsurgery is presented and discussed. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.