Testing an unusual in vivo vessel network model: a method to study angiogenesis in the colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri.

ABSTRACT: Tunicates are the closest relatives to vertebrates and include the only chordate species able to reproduce both sexually and asexually. The colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri is embedded in a transparent extracellular matrix (the tunic) containing the colonial circulatory system (CCS). The latter is a network of vessels external to zooids, limited by a simple, flat epithelium that originated from the epidermis. The CCS propagates and regenerates by remodelling and extending the vessel network through the mechanism of sprouting, which typically characterises vertebrate angiogenesis. In exploiting the characteristics of B. schlosseri as a laboratory model, we present a new experimental and analysis method based on the ability to obtain genetically identical subclones representing paired

SUBMITTER: Gasparini F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4173039 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature