Functional studies of VE-cad, VEGF₁₆₅ and uPAR.

<p>(A) HBMSC and HUVEC were co-cultured with neutralizing antibodies against VE-cad, VEGF₁₆₅ and uPAR for 24 hours. We found that the neutralization of VE-cad, VEGF₁₆₅ and uPAR suppressed the formation of self-assembled network in co-culture system without impairing the viability of cells. Addition of isotype control mouse antibody or normal IgG rabbit antibody had no effect on self-assembled network formation. Scare bars represent 200 µm. (B) The migration velocity of co-HUVEC were analyzed from the images taken by time-lapse videomicroscopy observing co-cultures with or without neutralizing antibody. Interestingly, co-HUVEC in co-culture incubated with VE-cad neutralizing antibody was still be able to migrate. The migration speed is very close to the co-HUVEC in co-culture without any neutralizing antibody. However, the neutralization of VEGF₁₆₅ and uPAR totally blocked the migration of co-HUVEC in co-culture system.