Abstract | In cancer, the metabolic support of both the primary tumor and the metastatic cells is generally thought to require the growth of either new blood vessels from existing blood vessels (angiogenesis) or the growth of entirely new blood vessels from precursor cells (vasculogenesis). If a pharmaceutical agent can suppress new vascular network growth, one has a powerful adjunct therapy for cancer treatment. Common methods for measuring the effects of treatment on networks involve comparing control and treated networks on the basis of counts of branchpoints, network area, and thickness and lengths of vessels. We propose new measurements based on algebraic graph theory that are motivatived by the biology of the networks. We also describe the Vascular Network Toolkit (an ImageJ-based system) that automates the process of analyzing digital images of the vascular networks we study. |