Werner Risau & Gabor M. Rubanyi 
Morphogenesis of Endothelium [PDF ebook] 

The cardiovascular system is the first functional organ system to develop in the vertebrate embryo. Embryonic growth and differentiation essentially depend on transport of nutrients and waste through the early vasculature, and certain events in morphogenesis are thought to be influenced by the hemodynamic forces of the beating heart. The vasculatur