FIGURE 2.

FGF9 stimulates neoangiogenesis. (A), Freshly isolated rat liver sinus endothelial cells were kept under standard conditions, as described, ¹⁴ and were treated with 10 ng of FGF9/ml or 5 ng vEGF/ml medium; 24 h later DNA replication was determined by ³H‐thymidine incorporation and scintillation counting. (B‐F), Tube formation of BEC and LEC was induced by treatment with FGF9 for 14 h, as described in methods. BEC: untreated (C) or treated with 10ng FGF9/ml (D); LEC: untreated (E) or treated with 100ng FGF9/ml (F). (G‐I), Spheroid sprouting assay was performed as described in methods. Sprouting BEC spheroid, being untreated (H) or treated with 100 ng of FGF9/ml medium (I). Data in (A), (B) and (G) give means ± SEM of ≥3 three independent experiments. Statistics by One Sample t‐test: a, P < .05; b, P < .01