Home › Cell Biology › Rat Mesentery Exteriorization: A Model for Investigating the Cellular Dynamics Involved in Angiogenesis
Cell Biology JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Rat Mesentery Exteriorization: A Model for Investigating the Cellular Dynamics Involved in Angiogenesis

DOI: 10.3791/3954-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Perform rat mesentery exteriorization to induce angiogenesis in vivo
  • ✓ Harvest and fix mesenteric tissue for downstream microscopy analysis
  • ✓ Apply colorimetric and fluorescent immunolabeling to visualize vascular networks
  • ✓ Quantify capillary sprouting, vascular area, and microvascular density
Protocol

This article describes a simple model for stimulating angiogenesis in the rat mesentery. The model produces dramatic increases in capillary sprouting, vascular area and vascular density over a relatively short time course in a tissue that allows en face visualization of entire microvascular networks down to the single cell level.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~3-4 days (surgery + recovery + tissue processing + imaging)
Model organism
Rat (Sprague Dawley or Lewis strain implied)
Biosafety
BSL-1

Steps

1
Perform rat mesentery exteriorization surgery

Surgically expose the rat mesentery to stimulate angiogenesis in a tissue accessible for en face microscopy of microvascular networks.

▶ 02:06
2
Harvest and fix mesenteric tissue samples

Excise mesenteric tissue at designated time points and fix with appropriate fixative to preserve vascular morphology and cellular integrity.

▶ 04:42
3
Apply colorimetric immunolabeling to tissues

Perform immunohistochemistry using colorimetric detection methods to visualize endothelial markers and vascular structures in mesenteric tissue sections.

▶ 06:06
4
Apply fluorescent immunolabeling to tissues

Perform immunofluorescence labeling to enable multi-channel visualization and quantitative analysis of vascular networks at cellular resolution.

▶ 07:37
5
Image and quantify angiogenic parameters

Acquire high-resolution microscopy images of labeled mesenteric tissues and measure capillary sprouting, vascular area, and vascular density across experimental groups.

▶ 08:27
💬 Comments coming soon