Monocytes/macrophages cooperate with progenitor cells during neovascularization and tissue repair: conversion of cell columns into fibrovascular bundles.

ABSTRACT: The potential of monocytes/macrophages (MC/Mph) to contribute to neovascularization has recently become a topic of intense scrutiny. Here, we characterized the behavior of MC/Mph in cellular infiltrates, with emphasis on their spatial organization and localization in newly formed microvessels. To this end, we studied MC/Mph migration and assembly in basic fibroblast growth factor-supplemented Matrigel plugs placed in transgenic Tie2-beta-galactosidase mice for up to 4 weeks. In these plugs, along with Nile Red-positive adipocytes, we found MC/Mph distributed in cell cords, also containing various mature and progenitor tissue cells; and functional Tie2-positive or -negative microvessels embedded in bundles of fibrillar collagen surrounded by F4/80-positive MC/Mph. At earlier stages of infil

SUBMITTER: Anghelina M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1606496 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature