Figure 1.

Fluid mechanical (top half) and solid mechanical (bottom half) stimuli during the early stages of angiogenic sprouting. From left to right: destabilization, initiation and elongation. Cold colours represent fluid mechanical stimuli: liminal (blue), transmural (green) and interstitial (purple) flows and pressure; and warm colours, solid mechanical aspects: two-dimensional and three-dimensional stresses (maroon), cell–cell and cell–matrix interaction (orange) and cell stiffness (yellow).