Quantification of angiogenesis on the rat aortic ring assay.

Image analysis is used to quantify angiogenesis on the rat aortic ring model. This technique allows to determine: (1) the aortic ring area and factor shape; (2) the number of microvessels, the total number of branching, the maximal microvessel length and the number of microvessels in function of the distance to the aortic ring; (3) the total number of isolated fibroblast-like cells and the number of fibroblast-like cells in function of the distance to the aortic ring. We show that this method is suitable to quantify spontaneous angiogenesis as well as to analyse a complex microvascular network induced by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).