Figure 4. Effects of EC-SOD against in vitro tube formation in HUVECs. A: In vitro tube formation was achieved using an in vitro angiogenesis kit. Briefly, HUVECs and fibroblasts were incubated with 10 ng/ml VEGF with or without 100 ng/ml EC-SOD. In the control group, HUVECs were incubated with culture medium. After 11 days, they were stained with anti CD31 antibody, an endothelial cell marker. Scale bar represents 0.5 mm. Tube formation was evaluated by measurements of (B) joint and (C) path, as described in “Methods.” Data represent means and standard error (n=8), with “Control” being given the value 1.0. Double sharp (##) denotes p<0.01 versus Control based on the Tukey test. Asterisk (*) denotes p<0.05 versus VEGF alone based on the Tukey test. The number of each group was 8.