Cell biology of vascular endothelial cells

The number of molecules identified as being involved in the development of the vascular system has been increasing recently. Among those are secretory molecules and their receptors that collaborate in concert to regulate the process. Of note, however, is that we know little about the response of normal endothelial cells to different stimuli. In this study, we established a method of producing a normal endothelial population from embryonic stem cells. This new culture system was used to analyze the behavior of endothelial cells to various angiogenic stimuli. Our study demonstrated clearly that this culture system is extremely useful in revealing the behavior of developing endothelial cells. Implications derived from our observations are discussed.