In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) is required to provide oxygen and nutrients to actively proliferating synovial tissue. The resultant neovasculature s dysfunctional and fails to vascularise the innermost synovium thus perpetuating synovitis. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the relationship between synovial tissue oxygen levels (PO2) and microvascular density in inflammatory arthritis by direct in vivo measurements of PO2 and thus establish whether angiogensisrestores tissue oxygenation through the analysis of Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) and Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) which are up regulated in hypoxic conditions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:505261 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Sandhu, Virinderjit |
| Publisher | Imperial College London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds