Critical Factors in Measuring Angiogenesis Using the Aortic Ring Model

Angiogenesis is a feature of numerous pathologies including cancer and inflammatory conditions and as such is key therapeutic target for the treatment of disorders where excessive or insufficient formation of new blood vessels occurs. The study of angiogenesis in vivo provides many challenges, however the growth of new blood vessels in vitro from aortic explants has provided a highly useful model for the study of this process. In this manuscript we examine the critical factors which can affect this assay and demonstrate that aortas from both female rats and mice exhibit a reduced angiogenic response to males. These findings have implications not only for the experimental design of angiogenesis experiments but also in the use of therapies targeting angiogenesis in the treatment of pathologies, such as cancer.