TUCUMAN BIOLOGY ASSOCIATION (Asociación de Biología de Tucumán) Abstracts from the XXXI ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN ANGIOGENESIS AND OVARIAN FUNCTION Angiogenesis is the process of blood vessel formation in which new vessels sprout and mature from a pre-existing vasculature.Vessel formation is critical during tissue development in embryogenesis(vasculogenesis)and in several pathological conditions.However,in healthy tissues,physiological angiogenesis is mainly limited to the reproductive system.The ovarian vasculature particularly associated with the dominant structures(preovulatory follicle and corpus luteum)during the ovarian cycle is one of the few sites where nonpathological development and regression of blood vessels occurs in the adult.Recently,local factors such as VEGFA and angiopoietins,which act specifically on vascular endothelial or support cells(pericytes or smooth muscle)to control angiogenesis,were identified in the ovary of several species,including nonhuman primates and women.