Figure 3. MTM reduced the myeloma-associated neo-vascularization in vitro in a rat aortic ring assay.

A Representative photomicrographs (scale 25×) of aortic rings cultured for 9 days with MCDB+DMEM, VEGF, MTM 400 nM, or with conditioned medium (CM) by cancer cells treated with MTM 0 nM, 200 nM or 400 nM. B A grid of concentric rings is automatically drawn by making successive dilations of the aortic ring boundary. Microvessel distribution is defined as the number of microvessel intersections with this grid plotted as a function of the distance from the ring. C and D represent the mean numbers of vessels depending of the distance to the ring for control (C) and MTM treatment (D). The addition of medium conditioned by treated 5TGM1 cells to the aortic ring culture increased the development of microvessels compared to the control condition (MCDB+DMEM) (p<0.01). This angiogenic response was inhibited (p<0.001) when increased concentrations of MTM (200 nM and 400 nM) were added to 5TGM1 cells before collection of conditioned medium.