Elsevier

Methods in Enzymology

Volume 441, 2008, Pages 393-402
Methods in Enzymology

Chapter Twenty-Two - Microscopic Technique for the Detection of Nitric Oxide-Dependent Angiogenesis in an Animal Model

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Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in maintaining vascular homeostasis. The importance of NO in the vasculature is demonstrated by several experimental conditions, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced angiogenesis. Thus, the NO metabolic pathway in endothelial cells could be one of the main contributing factors for angiogenesis. Although several methods have been used for measuring in vitro angiogenesis, a proper technique has not been developed for identifying in vivo NO-dependent angiogenesis. This chapter provides a new intravital microscopic method for detecting and measuring NO-dependent angiogenesis in a mouse model. This technique showed strong abdominal neovascularization in wild-type mice, but not eNOS knockout mice, locally injected with VEGF, as well as stimulation of angiogenesis in NO donor-injected mice. This technique also revealed the inhibitory effect of the NOS inhibitor NG-iminoethyl-l-ornithine in VEGF-mediated in vivo angiogenesis. This chapter describes intravital microscopy as a new imaging technique for detecting NO-dependent angiogenesis in an animal model.

Section snippets

INTRODUCTION

Nitric oxide (NO), first characterized as a major endothelial-derived relaxing factor, synthesized from l-arginine by the catalytic reaction of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), is a gaseous molecule with an astonishingly wide range of physiological and pathophysiological activities, including the regulation of vessel tone and angiogenesis in wound healing, inflammation, ischemic cardiovascular diseases, and malignant diseases.

Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels from preexisting

Intracellular NO detection

Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) are exposed to VEGF (10 ng/ml) with or without 10 μM NG-monomethyl-l-arginine (NMA) for 4 h, washed twice with serum-free medium, and then incubated with 5 μM DAF-FM diacetate (Molecular Probes Inc.) for 1 h at 37 °C. After the excess probe is removed, cells are incubated for an additional 20 min to allow for complete deesterification of the intracellular DAF-FM diacetate to the nonpermeable and nonfluorescent DAF-FM, which is converted to the highly

In vitro detection of NO-dependent angiogenesis

Because NO has been implicated as a mediator of angiogenesis, NO production was determined during VEGF-induced angiogenesis. HUVECs exposed to VEGF demonstrated elevated NO levels as well as stimulated in vitro angiogenesis compared with control, and these increases were inhibited by cotreatment with L-NIO (Fig. 22.2), indicating that NO plays a critical role in VEGF-induced in vitro angiogenesis.

Intravital microscopic detection of VEGF-induced angiogenesis in mice

For intravital microscopy, implantation of abdominal windows could be performed easily without

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Microscopic techniques have been show to allow direct and repetitive analysis of microcirculation in a variety of experimental models. This includes approaches based either on the exterioration or on the in situ visualization of organs and tissues (Schuder et al., 1999, Szczesny et al., 2000). Moreover, using various fluorescent dyes, the intravital microscopic technique enables direct examination of the angiogenic response in vessels, organs, and tissues. This advanced technique has been

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by a Vascular System Research Center Grant from the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation.

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