Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent inducer of angiogenesis and vascular leak involved in development, wound healing, tumor growth, macular degeneration, and ischemia. Studying the effects of VEGF in vitro is not always sufficient to approximate the complex in vivo response that involves multiple cell types within functioning tissues. Treating mice with an intravenous injection of recombinant VEGF produces a rapid and transient biochemical response that is accompanied by a series of ultrastructural changes. Similar events are induced by hypoxia-induced VEGF in the heart following myocardial infarction or by tumor cell-released VEGF during metastasis. Studying how intact blood vessels respond to VEGF will augment the further development of antipermeability strategies to improve disease progression in a number of pathologies.
