During the last years, extensive research has led to the discovery of a
plethora of angiogenesis-stimulating growth factors that are important
during bone development and normal fracture healing. Some of these
factors stimulate angiogenesis directly by inducing neoangiogenesis
and include factors such as VEGF, placental growth factor (PlGF), fibroblast
growth factor (FGF) ormembers of the transforming growth factor
beta family. Others have angiogenic properties and mainly regulate the
production of angiogenic molecules; examples are bone morphogenetic
proteins (BMPs), angiopoietin, platelet-derived growth factor and
insulin-like growth factor family members (Table 1). Here, we will
focus on the most extensively studied angiogenic growth factors
VEGF, PlGF and FGF.