Quantification of Aortic Ring Sprouting Responses.

To quantify endothelial sprouting responses, four images were taken of sprouting structures originating from the upper edge of the ring using an Olympus CKX41 inverted microscope equipped with a Q color 3 Olympus camera. Average sprout length was quantified using ImagePro Analyzer software by measuring the distance from the edge of the ring to the tip of invading multicellular structures. The average number of endothelial sprouts per ring was quantified from the four images. Error bars represent SEM.