Angiogenic efficacy of Heparin on chick chorioallantoic membrane
Vascular Cell. 2012;
Received: 27 September 2011 | Accepted: 15 March 2012 | Published: 18 April 2012
Vascular Cell ISSN: 2045-824X
Abstract
Heparin is an anticoagulant agent known to have diverse effects on angiogenesis with some reports suggesting that it can induce angiogenesis while a few have indicated of its inhibitory property. Cancer patients treated for venous thromboembolism with low molecular heparin had a better survival than the unfractionated heparin (UFH). Heparin is known to interact with various angiogenic growth factors based on its sulfation modifications within the glycosaminoglycan chains. Therefore it is important to study the mechanism of action of heparin of different molecular weight to understand its angiogenic property. In this concern, we examined the angiogenic response of higher molecular weight Heparin (15 kDa) of different concentrations using late CAM assay. Growth of blood vessels in terms of their length and size was measured and thickness of the CAM was calculated morphometrically. The observed increase in the thickness of the CAM is suggestive of the formation of capillary like structures at the treated region. Analysis of the diffusion pattern showed internalized action of heparin that could affect gene expression leading to proliferation of endothelial cells. Angiogenesis refers to formation of new blood vessels from the existing ones and occurrence of new blood vessels at the treated area strongly confirms that heparin of 15 kDa molecular weight has the ability to induce angiogenesis on CAM vascular bed in a dose dependent manner. The results demonstrate the affinity of heparin to induce angiogenesis and provide a novel mechanism by which heparin could be used in therapeutics such as in wound healing process.
Keywords
Heparin Angiogenesis Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) Endothelial cells (ECs)Background
Heparin, a member of the glycosaminoglycan family of carbohydrates found on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix [1] has the potential to induce angiogenesis [2, 3]. It was shown to bind both with angiogenic [4] and anti-angiogenic proteins favoring and stabilizing the association with their respective receptors [5]. Heparin present at the basal site of blood vessels act as matrix receptors by interacting with a variety of basement membrane proteins and is involved in the binding and internalization of lipoprotein lipase on endothelium [6]. Heparin present in the extra cellular matrix (ECM) may act as a reservoir for angiogenic growth factors and will sustain the long-term stimulation of endothelial cells [7]. It was already shown that heparin of different molecular weight could promote angiogenesis [8] on the chorioallantoic membrane of the chick embryo and introduction of heparin directly into the allantoic sac of CAM [9] resulted in dilated sinuous arterial and venous branches suggesting that heparin could induce new blood vessel formation. Poly-l-lysine/heparin complexes were found to stimulate angiogenesis in chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane [10].
We analyzed the angiogenic effect of Heparin (15 kDa) by treating CAM with 3 different concentrations (50, 100 and 150 μM) using gelatin sponges after 72hours of incubation. Biotinylated Heparin contains 5–8 mole-percent biotin and is attached through a 12-atom spacer arm containing a cleavable disulfide group. This has been used mainly to study its localization on CAM using streptavidin labeled with HRP.
Diffusion of Heparin through various layers of CAM and also the morphological changes induced on CAM during treatment was analysed. Thickness of the CAM was also measured to further substantiate the angiogenic response and formation of new blood vessels.
Materials and Methods
Materials
Fertilized White leghorn chicken eggs (
Methods
The in ovo CAM model
Fertilized chicken eggs weighing 50 ± 2gm were incubated at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere (>60% relative humidity) based on protocol for the Hen's Egg Test-Chorioallantoic Membrane (HET-CAM) method. At day 3 of post incubation, 2 to3 ml of albumin was withdrawn, using a 21-gauge needle, through the large blunt edge of the egg in order to minimize adhesion of the shell membrane with CAM. A square window of 1 cm² was opened in the egg shell and sealed with paraffin film to prevent dehydration and the eggs were returned for incubation. On day 9th, gelatin sponges of size of 1 mm³ were placed on the top of growing CAM under sterile condition [11]. The sponges were soaked with 10 μl of 50, 100 and 150 μM concentrations of heparin. Control CAM was treated with 10 μl of 1X PBS. The window was closed with a transparent adhesive tape and the eggs were returned for further incubation till day 12 (72hours) at which vascularization potential of the CAM reaches its maximum. The experimental groups were divided into 4 with each containing 40 numbers. Group1 represents 1X PBS (control), group 2, 3 and 4 corresponds to 10 μl of 50 μM, 100 μM and 150 μM of heparin. Treated CAM was photographed at 0, 24, 48 and 72hours using Cannon digital camera and the images were analyzed with
Histology
CAM treated with heparin was flooded with Bouin's fixative solution and the treated area was removed, dehydrated and embedded in paraffin wax. Vertical cross sections of 7 μm in thickness were taken using Rotary Microtome (Weswicox, Japan) [15]. The histological sections were observed under Light Microscope at 40X magnification for qualitative assessment and images were taken using Nikon Camera attached with light microscope at 10X magnification.
Morphometric analysis
Thickness of the CAM was measured from haematoxylin and eosin stained sections with a calibrated objective at 40X magnification using 10X10 calibrated grids in the 10X ocular. Each CAM was measured at 6 different locations from 6 serial cross sections of the same sample. To calculate mean tissue thickness (D
Immunohistochemical analysis
Sections of CAM of 7 μM thickness were obtained using microtome after treatment with heparin. After 12hours of incubation at 37°C the sections were dewaxed. Sections were washed with 1X PBS and incubated with HRP conjugated streptavidin (HRP-anti-rabbit secondary) of 1:40 dilution for 1 hour at 37°C. After counterstaining with haematoxylin and eosin dehydration was performed with alcohol. Images were recorded after mounting with 90% of glycerol using Nikon camera attached with light microscope at 40X magnification. Immunohistochemical staining was performed on paraffin-embedded tissue sections with slight modifications.
Data analysis and statistics
All the experiments were performed in triplicate (
Results
Visualization of blood vessels on CAM
We studied the role of heparin in the angiogenic process by performing a CAM assay. An increase in the number of blood vessels was observed for all 3 concentrations (50,100,150 μM) of heparin at 72hours of treatment. Among three concentrations 100 μM heparin showed distinct spoke wheel pattern of vessels with numerous allantoic vessels around the gelatin sponge demonstrating the angiogenic potential of heparin while control CAM treated with PBS showed slow and steady growth of allantoic vessels (Figure 1a). The observation is also supported by the skeletonized prune images obtained from
Figure 1
Qualitative assessment of angiogenic potential
We further demonstrated the angiogenic potential of heparin by studying the morphological features of CAM after treatment (Figure 2). CAM treated with PBS showed uniform tissue thickness without any bulging appearance. Large blood vessel was seen without the appearance of sprouts. The histological appearance was same throughout the chorionic and allantoic epithelial layers. CAM treated with 100 μM heparin showed increased thickness at the thin stratum due to altered fibroblast, epithelial and endothelial cellular morphology. Large numbers of elongated ECs were visible with sprouting appearance. The thickness of the primary stratum also increased due to accumulation of fibroblast at sub-epithelial capillary network (SEC) giving an irregular appearance. Very small capillaries were visible at the connective tissue area due to occasional sprouting from pre existing vessels which tends to pass to the chorionic sinus and could be concluded as the sprouting angiogenic effect at this particular concentration. CAM treated with 50 μM and 150 μM heparin showed irregular appearance of thin stratum at chorionic epithelial layer due to stratification of the cells mainly by fibroblast cells at SEC. A few small capillaries were also visible for 150 μm but radial pattern of fibroblast was reiterated.
Figure 2
Measurement of CAM thickness (DCAM)
Growth of the vessels was further confirmed by measuring the thickness of CAM from paraffin embedded vertical sections and plotted as shown in Figure 3. In paraffin-embedded tissue, material shrinkage could be estimated to be ~25% relative to the fresh material and can be assumed to be the same since all tissues were prepared similarly [16]. Thus, shrinkage corrections were not necessary for comparisons of tissue thickness. CAM treated with 100 μM heparin showed significant increase (*p = <0.001) in tissue thickness when compared to the values obtained for 50 μM and 150 μM concentrations.
Figure 3
Diffusion pattern of heparin
Diffusion of biotin conjugated heparin through various membranes of CAM was analyzed based on its binding with streptavidin. The presence of biotin-strepatavidin complexes is indicative of the diffusion of heparin (Figure 4) through the membrane and the intensity increased with increase in the concentrations. CAM treated with 50 μM heparin showed that it had diffused through the chorionic and sub epithelial cell layers and could favor the activation of fibroblast cell. CAM treated with 100 μM heparin showed that the diffusion occurred not only at the chorionic and sub epithelial layer but also at the stroma in which are present the capillary plexes/blood sinus. This could favor endothelial cell migration which is considered to be the most important step in angiogenesis. CAM treated with 150 μM heparin showed that the diffusion is greater at the sub epithelial layer and in stroma region suggesting that heparin (15 KDA) could favor angiogenesis.
Figure 4
Discussion
The present study reveals the mechanisms by which heparin of 15 kDa can induce angiogenesis in vitro. New blood vessel formation and its growth on CAM treated with heparin of varying concentrations implied that it has the potential to induce sprouting angiogenesis as observed in the increase in vessel length and size. The usage of
It was proved that histology of the CAM changes as a response towards the biological materials placed on it including EC migration [24], fibroblast and mast cell accumulation [25, 26], changes in thickness of the epithelial layer, increase in the number of capillaries and capillary cords formation [15], presence of apoptotic ECs [27–30]. In the present study heparin is found to alter the morphology of those cells which have a direct role in angiogenesis similar to that reported earlier [15]. The histological changes associated with 100 μM is suggestive of favo-ring blood vessel formation stronger than other two concentrations.
To calculate tissue thickness we measured the distance between chorionic and allantoic layers (in micrometer) that contains different kind of cells and any morphological change found in these cells could affect the entire structure of the CAM. An earlier study showed that angiogenic activity of the substance could be measured by calculating cell density of fibroblast, ECs and epithelial cells [15, 31]. Thickness of the CAM increases gradually during the early and mid phase of embryo growth due to the capillary migration from stroma region towards the inner shell membrane (ISM) [32]. The ISM lies very close to the basal lamina which is the outer surface of the CAM where gelatin sponges soaked with heparin are implanted. The thickness of CAM treated with heparin had increased indicating the proliferation and growth of the blood vessels and can be concluded that heparin has the potential to induce new vessels formation with maximum performance at 100 μM concentration within 72hours.
It is already known that the angiogenic response of CAM depends on diffusion of test materials through the CAM thereby indicating its involvement in angiogenesis. We studied the diffusion pattern of biotinylated heparin and found that heparin had diffused through various layers of CAM. The affinity of biotin with streptavidin has made it useful for numerous bioanalytical and biotechnological applications [33–35] using CAM and mouse embryo assays [36]. The diffusion pattern showed internalized action of heparin that could affect gene expression on endothelial cell and could stabilize, potentiate and transport growth factors which favor angiogenesis. This diffusion pattern was found to depend on the concentrations and implied the fact that though the higher concentration (150 μM) could favor new blood vessel formation up to certain extent might cause cellular damage. The diffusion of 100 μM heparin to the stroma region indicates that it would have a direct impact on angiogenesis and can favor sprouting of blood vessels.
Conclusion
The present study evaluates the effects of HMWH on formation of capillary-like tubular structures using CAM assay. UFH of 15 kDa enhances its formation in contrast to LMWH which is known to decrease the formation of tubular endothelial structures. Thus the present
Acknowledgement
This study was supported by University SAP sponsored programme and Merit fellowship, University Grant Commission, India.
Authors’ original submitted files for images
Below are the links to the authors’ original submitted files for images.
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