Tissue macrophages act as cellular chaperones for vascular anastomosis downstream of VEGF-mediated endothelial tip cell induction.

Journal article

Blood vessel networks expand in a 2-step process that begins with vessel sprouting and is followed by vessel anastomosis. Vessel sprouting is induced by chemotactic gradients of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which stimulates tip cell protrusion. Yet it is not known which factors promote the fusion of neighboring tip cells to add new circuits to the existing vessel network. By combining the analysis of mouse mutants defective in macrophage development or VEGF signaling with li...

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Authors: Fantin, A; Vieira, J; Gestri, G; Denti, L; Schwarz, Q

• Journal: Blood
• Volume: 116
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 829-840
• Publication date: 2010-08-01
• DOI: 10.1182/blood-2009-12-257832
• EISSN: 1528-0020
• ISSN: 0006-4971
• Language: English
• Keywords: Endothelium, Vascular; Female; Rhombencephalon; Macrophages; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Cell Polarity; Retinal Vessels; Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; Yolk Sac; Neovascularization, Physiologic; Receptor, TIE-2; Neuropilin-1; Mice; Male; Animals; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; Mice, Knockout; Endothelial Cells; Trans-Activators; Zebrafish; Gene Knock-In Techniques