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. 2010 Dec 31;5(12):e14476. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0014476

Figure 4. Glucocorticoids reduce formation and stability of TLSs formed by human umbilical vein endothelial cells grown on Matrigel.

Figure 4

TLS formation by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was quantified using time-lapse video microscopy. (A) Tube-like structures (TLS) formation (solid arrows) occurred rapidly (0–4 hours) after seeding, stabilised (4–8 hours) and was followed by degradation and detachment (8–24 hours). (B) Cortisol (600 nM) reduced TLS formation (0–4 hours) and TLS stability (2–4 hours). Exposure to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF, 10 ng/ml) increased and accelerated TLS formation but did not influence TLS stability. This effect of VEGF was abolished by co-incubation with cortisol (600 nM) (**p<0.01 by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA)). (C) The rate to maximum TLS development was increased by VEGF (*p<0.05 by one-way ANOVA and Dunnett's post hoc test) and this effect was blocked by cortisol. Data represent mean±standard error of mean (SEM) (n = 6).