Fig. 3

Effects of Marimastat on invasion and angiogenesis in vivo and ex vivo. A Angiogenesis in a Matrigel plug assay in SCID mice by the subcutaneosly addition of Matrigel containing heparin (50 U/ml) with and without VEGF and in the presence of Marimastat. In the first lane, representative photographs of individual Matrigel plugs recovered at autopsy for each condition shown. Angiogenesis was evaluated by hemoglobin (Hb) contents shown in the histogram below. B Mouse Choroidal Explant Assay: vessel outgrowth in a mouse choroid explant model in a 3D environment. Representative images of vessel growth after 6 days of incubation with Marimastat and quantification of the sprouting area by ImageJ. C Scratch assay was performed with HRECs in the presence of Marimastat. The histogram below indicates the quantification analysis of the scratch after 48 h measuring the wound closure. D Capillary morphogenesis of HRECs at 24 h in the presence and in the absence of Marimastat added to the Matrigel before polymerization. Representative microphotographs (×10) of capillary-like structures at 24 h are shown. Capillary network was quantified by Angiogenesis Analyzer Image J tool. Histograms represent the mean number of number of nodes, number of meshes, total length, and total branching length, respectively, at 24 h. Data are representative of measures obtained from at least nine fields. Results are the mean of 5 different experiments performed in duplicate and are shown as mean value ± SD. *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.0001 significantly different from control