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Mathematical modeling of the capillary-like pattern generated by adrenomedullin-treated human vascular endothelial cells in vitro

  1. Diego Guidolin1,*,
  2. Giovanna Albertin1,
  3. Elisa Sorato1,
  4. Barbara Oselladore1,
  5. Alessandra Mascarin1,
  6. Domenico Ribatti2

Article first published online: 17 JUL 2009

DOI: 10.1002/dvdy.22022

Issue

Developmental Dynamics

Developmental Dynamics

Volume 238, Issue 8, pages 1951–1963, August 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Guidolin, D., Albertin, G., Sorato, E., Oselladore, B., Mascarin, A. and Ribatti, D. (2009), Mathematical modeling of the capillary-like pattern generated by adrenomedullin-treated human vascular endothelial cells in vitro. Dev. Dyn., 238: 1951–1963. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.22022

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Section of Anatomy, University of Padova Medical School, Padova, Italy

  2. 2

    Department of Human Anatomy and Histology, University of Bari Medical School, Bari, Italy

*University of Padova-Medical School, Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Gabelli, 65 I-35121 Padova, Italy

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 17 JUL 2009
  2. Article first published online: 17 JUL 2009
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 20 MAY 2009

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Keywords:

  • angiogenesis;
  • human vascular endothelial cells;
  • Matrigel assay;
  • adrenomedullin;
  • image analysis;
  • Cellular Potts Model

Abstract

A recently proposed approach was used to model the self-organization into capillary-like structures of human vascular endothelial cells cultured on Matrigel. The model combines a Cellular Potts Model, considering cell adhesion, cytoskeletal rearrangement and chemotaxis, and a Partial Differential Equation model describing the release and the diffusion of a chemoattractant. The results were compared with the data from real in vitro experiments to establish the capability of the model to accurately reproduce both the spontaneous self-assembly of unstimulated cells and their self-organization in the presence of the pro-angiogenic factor adrenomedullin. The results showed that the model can accurately reproduce the self-assembly of unstimulated cells, but it failed in reproducing the adrenomedullin-induced self-organization of the cells. The extension of the model to include cell proliferation led to a good match between simulated and experimental patterns in both cases with predicted proliferation rates in agreement with the data of cell proliferation experiments. Developmental Dynamics 238:1951–1963, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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