Figure 1: Angiogenic sprouts from both rat and mouse aortas from microvessels consisting of endothelial cells surrounded by pericytes. (A) Vessel out growth from a rat aortic ring seeded in Collagen I, in the presence of 1% FBS and 10ng/ml VEGF (Scale bar 200μ). Sprouts from rat aortic rings are longer in length and tend to be more branched (arrow). (B) Murine angiogenic sprout stained with Bandeiraea simplicifolia (BS) lectin (red) showing endothelial cells comprising the microvessel surrounded by pericytes (Scale bar 100μ). (C and D) Angiogenic sprouts from aortas from transgenic mice expressing eGFP under the control of the αSMA promoter. GFP expressing pericytes (green) are observed surrounding ECs (D). (E) Table comparing the use of mouse and rat aortas for the study of angiogenesis.