Effects of Microenvironment Factors on Angiogenesis

Abstract

Angiogenesis is a vital step for complete organ engineering, and the microenvironment is one of the four basic elements of tissue engineering. Microenvironment factors such as oxygen content and stress are key dynamic factors that can trigger the variations of angiogenesis. We may induce the formation of beneficial blood vessels and prevent the formation of pathological blood vessels by precisely regulating the microenvironment. In this chapter, we will elaborate the interaction between vascular endothelial cells and the extracellular microenvironment and summarize the influence of various microenvironment factors on angiogenesis. The finding that microenvironment factors play such a concerted role in angiogenesis suggests that incorporating microenvironment factors into tissue engineering might accelerate the development of novel therapeutics.

Keywords: Angiogenesis, Endothelial cell, Extracellular matrix, Microenvironment, Stiffness.

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