Microvascular Plasticity: Angiogenesis in Health and Disease--Preface.

This Special Topic Issue is concerned with the mechanisms that determine the structure of microvascular networks. The vast number of vessels and the highly plastic character of the microcirculation give evidence that microvascular network structures emerge as a result of responses of individual vessels and cells to the local stimuli that they experience, through a combination of angiogenesis, remodeling and pruning. The articles in this issue of Microcirculation address a range of cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in these processes.