Abstract
Blood vessels represent an essential component of all organs. The vascular tree develops early during embryogenesis and progresses into a highly branched system of vascular channels lined by endothelial cells (ECs) and surrounded by mural cells. A highly hierarchical vascular architecture is established which comprises distinct arterial, capillary and venous segments as well as organ- and tissue-specific vascular beds. EC heterogeneity plays a role in directing disease processes to distinct vascular territories and characterization of the molecules involved in creating vascular heterogeneity might eventually allow refinement of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies aimed at targeting distinct segments of the vascular tree.
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The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013) under Grant agreement no. 278570.
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Ribatti, D. (2016). Morphofunctional Aspects of Endothelium. In: Dammacco, F., Ribatti, D., Vacca, A. (eds) Systemic Vasculitides: Current Status and Perspectives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40136-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40136-2_1
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