title: The chicken chorioallantoic membrane model in biology, medicine and bioengineering.
abstract: The chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is a simple, highly vascularized extraembryonic membrane, which performs multiple functions during embryonic development, including but not restricted to gas exchange. Over the last two decades, interest in the CAM as a robust experimental platform to study blood vessels has been shared by specialists working in bioengineering, development, morphology, biochemistry, transplant biology, cancer research and drug development. The tissue composition and accessibility of the CAM for experimental manipulation, makes it an attractive preclinical in vivo model for drug screening and/or for studies of vascular growth. In this article we provide a detailed review of the use of the CAM to study vascular biology and response of blood vessels to a variety of agonists. We also present distinct cultivation protocols discussing their advantages and limitations and provide a summarized update on the use of the CAM in vascular imaging, drug delivery, pharmacokinetics and toxicology.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland, Patrycja.Nowak-Sliwinska@epfl.ch.
authors.forename: Patrycja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nowak-Sliwinska
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Segura
authors.forename: M Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Iruela-Arispe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057005:Bioengineering; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000502:physiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002645:Chickens; D049033:Chorioallantoic Membrane / Q000502:physiology*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D023421:Models, Animal; D008954:Models, Biological; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic