The Role of Dll4/Notch Signaling in Normal and Pathological Ocular Angiogenesis: Dll4 Controls Blood Vessel Sprouting and Vessel Remodeling in Normal and Pathological Conditions

Figure 2

Retinal blood vessel development in the mouse eye. Retinal blood vessels start to grow at the postnatal day 1 (P1) from the optic nerve head in the center of the retina and extend toward periphery and achieve the retinal periphery by P8. At P3, developing vasculature covers approximately 30% of the retina (a), but by P6, about 70–80% of the retina is covered by the developing vessels (b). Angiogenic sprouts at the growing front of the developing vasculature have multiple filopodia extending from the tip cells (c). GS lectin staining: 2x magnification (a, b); 10x magnification (c). At the same time, there is an ongoing regression of the hyaloid vessels [30, 31]. Remaining hyaloid blood vessels are labelled by asterisks.

(a)

(b)

(c)