Endothelial ontogeny

Understanding how blood vessels differentiate and dissecting the cellular a nd molecular mechanisms involved in this process have become important chal lenges in relation to therapeutic angiogenesis. Thus, the interest in the e ndothelial ontogeny appears obvious because the mechanisms at work in this system may be also involved during pathological angiogenesis. This paper pr esents an overview of some key factors playing a role during the emergence, the differentiation and the remodeling of the vascular tree.