Int. J. Dev. Biol. 65: 545 - 549 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.210151dr

Vol 65, Issue 10-11-12

Spatial distribution of blood vessels in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane

Short Communication | Published: 15 November 2021

Diego Guidolin¹, Roberto Tamma², Tiziana Annese², Cinzia Tortorella¹ and Domenico Ribatti*^,2

¹Department of Neuroscience, Section of Anatomy, University of Padova, Padova and ²Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences, and Sensory Organs, University of Bari Medical School, Bari, Italy

Abstract

The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is a useful tool with which to study both angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis in vivo. CAM vascular growth pattern - including the way through vessels fills the available space - can be quite easily described and quantified using image analysis procedures, in order to evaluate different parameters, including fractal dimension, lacunarity and non-fractal order-disorder parameters. In the present study, we further expanded this morphological description, by estimating an index expressing the degree of symmetry characterizing the CAM vascular tree structure in the course of the embryonic development. Moreover, a uniformity index was estimated quantitatively to characterize the space-filling features of the vessels, i.e. the degree of spatial uniformity of their distribution in the tissue.

Keywords

Angiogenesis, chorioallantoic membrane, spatial distribution vascular growth, vascular morphogenesis