This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bendeck, M. P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bendeck, M. P. Related Collections Angiogenesis Animal models of human disease Genetically altered mice Angiography

(Circulation Research. 2004;94:138.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Macrophage Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Regulates Angiogenesis in Ischemic Muscle

Michelle P. Bendeck

From the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Correspondence to Michelle P. Bendeck, University of Toronto, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Medical Sciences Building, Room 6217A, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada. E-mail michelle.bendeck@utoronto.ca

Key Words: matrix metalloproteinases • angiogenesis • macrophages • extracellular matrix • vascular biology

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels from existing endothelial cell–lined vessels. It occurs during normal development, and in many pathological conditions including tumor growth, would healing, inflammation, ischemia, and atherosclerosis. The development of new vessels can occur by abluminal sprouting of endothelial cells to form new branches or by the longitudinal splitting of existing vessels in a process termed "intussusception." The activation phase of angiogenesis begins with increased vascular permeability leading to extravasation of fibrin, degradation of the endothelial cell basement membrane, and migration and proliferation of endothelial cells to form new vascular channels. The resolution phase of angiogenesis involves the cessation of endothelial cell proliferation and migration, synthesis of new basement membrane, junctional complex maturation, and recruitment and differentiation of pericytes or smooth muscle cells. It is increasingly recognized that the structure and composition of the extracellular matrix in the microenvironment surrounding the cells plays an important role regulating the process of angiogenesis.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of enzymes that have in common the ability to degrade many molecules of the extracellular matrix (>25 MMPs have been identified). MMP activity can be inhibited by endogenous tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), and the net proteolytic activity within a tissue is a function of the balance of MMPs/TIMPs. Numerous studies have shown that various MMPs and TIMPs are expressed by endothelial cells during angiogenesis. Furthermore, experiments using broad-spectrum synthetic or natural inhibitors of the MMPs have shown that blocking MMPs can inhibit angiogenesis; however, the role of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. Sho, M. Sho, H. Nanjo, K. Kawamura, H. Masuda, and R. L. Dalman Hemodynamic Regulation of CD34+ Cell Localization and Differentiation in Experimental Aneurysms Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, October 1, 2004; 24(10): 1916 - 1921. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]