Definition of "vascularization" []

• The process of vascularizing; the formation of vessels, especially blood vessels. (noun)
• Medicine An abnormal or pathological formation of blood vessels. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "As the body volume increases, however, the relative surface area decreases and specialized organs that concentrate blood vessels (vascularization) in pockets of increased surface area, achieved by folding or filaments, become necessary to extract sufficient oxygen from the surrounding medium."
• "As the body volume increases, however, the relative surface area decreases and specialized organs that concentrate blood vessels vascularization in pockets of increased surface area, achieved by folding or filaments, become necessary to extract sufficient oxygen from the surrounding medium."
• "The primary requirement for a body appendage or evagination to be identified as a gill or ctenidium is the high vascularization of the respiratory surface."