Fig. 6.
Effect of fibrin structure on capillary tube formation.
Fibrin matrices from normal fibrinogen and fibrinogenNieuwegein were polymerized at pH 7.0, 7.4, and 7.8. (A) Turbidity at 340 nm was measured after 2 hours of polymerization. (B) The hMVEC were seeded on top of these fibrin matrices and stimulated with 5 ng/mL bFGF and 1 ng/mL TNF-α to form invasive capillary-like tubular structures. Capillary-like tubular structure formation was quantified after 4 days and expressed as percent of control (normal fibrin at pH 7.4). Data are mean ± SD of 6 cultures in 3 independent experiments.