Figure 5.

Inhibition of Tpl2 prevented angiogenic factor-induced vessel sprouting in an aortic ring assay ex vitro, chemotactic motility, and migration of HUVECs and SVECs. (A) Tpl2 inhibitor inhibited endothelial cell sprouting in an aortic ring assay. (B) The endothelial cell sprouting was abundant in the control aortic rings but not in the rings treated with Tpl2 inhibitor. (C) HUVECs or (D) SVECs were pretreated with various concentrations of Tpl2 inhibitor before VEGF treatment. After incubation, chemotaxis was quantified by counting the cells that migrated to the lower side of the filter with optical microscopy at x200 magnification. The basal migration in the absence of VEGF was 100 ± 10 cells/field. (E) Tpl2 inhibitor inhibited SVEC migration. Cells migrating into the wound area were counted on the basis of the dash line. The representative photographs showed the same area at 12 hours with VEGF, bFGF, and CXCL1 and before preincubation with or without Tpl2 inhibitor. (F) These results were representative of four independent experiments. *P < .05 compared to controls.