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Figure 3. TEM view of an early-stage blood vessel formation. (A) One endothelial cell (E) just beginning a primitive lumen. A pericyte (P) wraps the vessel via the interposition of basement membrane. Collagen fibers exhibit longitudinal striations because of their fibrillar structure (arrows). (B) Longitudinal cut of an empty microcapillary. The endothelial cells are anchored by junction apparati (arrows) that, as reported at higher magnification in the insert, show the features of adherens junctions. Weibel-Palade "roundish" bodies are present at the cytoplasmic level. Bars: (A) 1 µm; (B) 2 µm.
