(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-12)
Rather, Matthew Holt
Angiogenesis, or the migration, growth, and differentiation of endothelial cells to form new blood vessels, is an essential component in any tissue engineering project. A variety of studies with transgenic and gene-targeted mice have demonstrated the importance of angiogenesis in fracture healing, and have provided insights into regulatory processes governing fracture angiogenesis; however, patterns of microvessel development before implementation and their effect on bone growth have yet to be quantified. Here we search to find the best quantification parameters of microvessels through 3-D confocal microscopy as they grow in-vitro before being seeded in a scaffold and delivered to a bone defect. Quantification will be done through both Amira and ImageJ software as each program has its strengths and weaknesses in image quantification.