Caenorhabditis Elegans and Angiogenesis

Abstract

Angiogenesis is sprouting of new capillaries from already existing ones. It is a dynamic process that can be seen in every phase of human life. It is among the dynamic mechanisms of both physiological and pathological processes. Vascular endothelial growth factor is one of the many molecules that play a role in angiogenesis. Vascular endothelial growth factor is released specifically to the endothelium. It regulates mitogenesis, vascular tone, vascular permeability and vasodilatation in the vascular endothelium. Caenorhabditis elegans is a nematode used to detect and screen the developmental processes and genetic mutations. It is appropriate to study at the organism level to isolate cells and to demonstrate intercellular interactions in vivo. Polyvinyl fluoride-1 is a molecule that plays a role in the neural development of Caenorhabditis elegans. In addition, the polyvinyl fluoride-1 molecule is told to be effective in angiogenesis. Studies have shown that polyvinyl fluoride-1 binds to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, but not to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3 and platelete derivated growth factor receptor β. In the research of human umbilical vein endothelial lines, it was observed that polyvinyl fluoride-1 induced angiogenesis and vascular tube formation. These results suggest that Caenorhabditis elegans may have a very important role in vascular endothelial growth factor studies. Caenorhabditis elegans model is used in many scientific areas such as aging, nervous system and genetic changes. However, only a few laboratories around the world studied the Caenorhabditis elegans angiogenesis model. Besides, this model is not currently used in Turkey. This provides a great advantage in terms of the utilization of this model in angiogenesis.