Successful Strategy Developed to Regenerate Blood Vessels
Date: 19.4.2011
Researchers at The University of Western Ontario have discovered a strategy for stimulating the formation of highly functional new blood vessels in tissues that are starved of oxygen. Dr. Geoffrey Pickering and Matthew Frontini at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry developed a strategy in which a biological factor, called fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9), is delivered at the same time that the body is making its own effort at forming new blood vessels in vulnerable or damaged tissue. The result is that an otherwise unsuccessful attempt at regenerating a blood supply becomes a successful one.
"FGF9 seemed to 'awaken' the supporting cells and stimulated their wrapping around the otherwise fragile blood vessel wall" said Frontini, the first author of the manuscript. "The idea of promoting the supporting cellular actors rather than the leading actors opens new ways of thinking about vascular regeneration and new possibilities for treating patients with vascular disease."
Original Paper:
Matthew J Frontini, Zengxuan Nong, Robert Gros, Maria Drangova, Caroline O'Neil, Mona N Rahman, Oula Akawi, Hao Yin, Christopher G Ellis, J Geoffrey Pickering. Fibroblast growth factor 9 delivery during angiogenesis produces durable, vasoresponsive microvessels wrapped by smooth muscle cells. Nature Biotechnology, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1845
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