|
Blood vessels are not passive - they actively seek out areas of low oxygen and grow into them. In this retinal network, the low oxygen area (green) has been detected by the network, which has sent out finger-like projections into it. The projections will guide the growth of new blood vessels to provide the area with oxygenated blood.
Olympus BX60 fluorescence microscope with a MicroRadiance confocal-scanning laser microscope, using Bio-Rad software. Blood vessels stained red with Isolectin B4-Alexa 568, hypoxic area stained green with Hypoxyprobe MAb-Alexa 488. Image enhanced using Adobe Photoshop. |
