A tool for the quantification of radial neo-vessels in chick chorioallantoic membrane angiogenic assays

Angiogenesis, the process of new blood vessels formation, plays a key role in different physiological and pathological conditions and it is considered a promising target for the development of new anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor therapies. Several assays have been developed to mimic the angiogenic process in vitro and in vivo. Here we propose a technique for the quantification of the pro-angiogenic or anti-angiogenic responses induced by different molecules when implanted in vivo on the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). At day 11 of development CAM is completely vascularized and neo-vessels induced by exogenous molecules converge radially to the implant. Our algorithm is an effective and rapid tool to characterize molecules endowed with proor anti-angiogenic effects by means of the quantification of the vessels present in the CAM macroscopic images. Based on conventional and dedicated image morphology tools, the proposed technique is able to discriminate radial from non-radial vessels, excluding the last ones from the count.