The relative contribution of blood flow to vessel structure remains a fundamental question in biology. To define the influence of intravascular flow fields, we studied tissue islands--here defined as intravascular pillars--in the chick chorioallantoic membrane. Pillars comprised 0.02 to 0.5% of the vascular system in 2-dimensional projection and were predominantly observed at vessel bifurcation...

A comparative study of feather morphogenesis and the development of feather pattern in normal and talpid embryos has been carried out. The development of talpid* CAM grafts shows that the effect of the gene is autonomous in the skin. The most striking effect of the gene upon feather morphogenesis is the failure of normal feather germ condensations to appear within the dermis. This is reflected ...

Astragaloside IV is the major active constituent of Astragalus membranaceus, which has been widely used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in China. The aim of this study was to determine the angiogenic effect of astragaloside IV and its underlying mechanism. We used the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide assay, Western blotting, real-time polymerase chain r...

Sarcoma is a very rare disease that is heterogeneous in nature, all hampering the development of new therapies. Sarcoma patients are ideal candidates for personalized medicine after stratification, explaining the current interest in developing a reproducible and low-cost xenotransplant model for this disease. The chick chorioallantoic membrane is a natural immunodeficient host capable of sustai...

Fractal analysis is widely used in many scientific fields, including the study of vascularization. It is a convenient method that defines the complexity of natural structures. The chorioallantoic membrane of the chick embryo is a standard experimental model for the study of vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. The aim of this investigation was to demonstrate that fractal geometry is more appropriat...

Our recent research identified the protein annexin A2 to be regulated by ovarian cancer-peritoneal cell interactions. This study investigated the role of annexin A2 in ovarian cancer metastasis and its potential utility as a novel therapeutic target, using in vitro and in vivo ovarian cancer models. Annexin A2 expression was examined by qRT-PCR and western blotting in ovarian cancer cell lines ...

The extracellular matrix plays an important role in many physiological processes. We have identified >20 angiogenic sites in the extracellular matrix protein laminin-1. The most potent sites are A13 (RQVFQVAYIIIKA) and C16 (KAFDITYVRLKF), which are present in homologous NH(2)-terminal domains of the alpha 1 and gamma 1 chains, respectively. We reported recently that a scrambled C16 sequence, C1...

It was previously reported (Tuan, 1980a) that the development-specific expression of calcium transport and related functions in the chick embryonic chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) requires the continuous presence of the eggshell, the calcium source of the embryo. To further understand the mechanism of action of the eggshell on the CAM functions, this study reports the effects of eggshell supplem...