IN VITRO MODELS FOR ANGIOGENESIS

Abstract

     Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is an essential process for tissue and organ development, wound healing and pathological events. To understand the mechanism of angiogenesis, choosing a suitable model for research is important and sometimes difficult. This review introduces some of the current and popular in vitro models for angiogenesis research, especially for investigating the morphological differentiation process of endothelial cells, including two-dimensional and three-dimensional models. The fabrication methods, advantages, limitations of each model and some future perspectives are discussed.