Figure 8.

The outgrowth of retinal vessels in an ex vivo setting is enhanced by the absence of the cathepsin B gene. Retinal explants were isolated from Ctsb+/+ and Ctsb–/–mice and plated in a collagen sandwich gel and supplemented with the medium containing either buffer or 25 ng/ml mouse VEGF. On the days indicated in the figure, the sprouting vessels were photographed and the total length of the vessels was measured. The bar graph shows the means of three replicates from two independent experiments, and the error bars indicate the SD of triplicates samples. Ctsb–/–mice (n = 3); Ctsb+/+ mice (n = 4). *** p < 0.001. Bar, 200 μm.