Figure 5.

The fibrinogen globe of the TN-C molecule is necessary for the bFGF-induced elongated phenotype. Nonsprouting BAECs were plated on various TN-C substrates and incubated in the presence or absence of bFGF. After 48 h, cells were fixed, stained, and counted. Data are expressed as the percentage of elongated cells from total cell number. The TN-C deletion mutant lacking the fibrinogen globe (TN-FB⁻) caused significant reduction of elongated cells in the presence of bFGF compared with the other variants. Data are given as mean ± SD from one representative experiment (n = 3). Statistical analysis: significanct (*), not significant (n.s); P < 0.05.