Figure 3

Soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) does not affect the survival, proliferation and tube formation of endothelial cells (ECs). (a,b) No effect of sFasL on the survival (a) and proliferation (b) of ECs. The ECs were incubated for 24 hours in DMEM supplemented with 1% FCS, and were treated with various concentrations of sFasL (1 to 100 ng/ml) in the absence or presence of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)₁₆₅ (10 ng/ml). The viability and proliferation of ECs were determined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and [³H]-thymidine incorporation assays, respectively. Data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation (SD) of three independent experiments. (c) No effect of sFasL on tube formation by ECs. The ECs were plated on Matrigel matrices with VEGF₁₆₅ (20 ng/ml) in the presence of various concentrations (10 to 1,000 ng/ml) of sFasL or soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) for 48 hours. The total length of the tube network was calculated using Image-Pro Plus software. Data are representative of three independent experiments with similar results, presented as the mean ± SD.