Biological Basis of Vascularization

Vascularization, existing in both physiological and pathological procedures, is a considerable complicated process which is regulated and controlled by a variety of biological factors via diverse pathways and mechanism. It is crucial to understand these processes and factors well if we intend to unveil the mystery of vascularization. More importantly, understanding basic processes offer tools and thinking directions with which researchers are able to design various methods to achieve vascularization, which is called vascular tissue engineering. In this part, major procedures of physical vascularization (vasculogenesis and angiogenesis) and growth factors are introduced, as well as their roles and new research outcomes in vascularization. These factors include vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF), platelet-derived growth factor(PDGF), angiopoietin1, angiopoietin2 and others(junctional molecules, integrals etc.). Lastly, some frequently used markers and testing methods about vascularization research are briefly introduced.

Keywords: Angiopoietin, Angiogenesis, FGF, PDGF, Vascularization, VEGF.