Artery and vein size is balanced by Notch and ephrin B2/EphB4 during angiogenesis.

ABSTRACT: A mutual coordination of size between developing arteries and veins is essential for establishing proper connections between these vessels and, ultimately, a functional vasculature; however, the cellular and molecular regulation of this parity is not understood. Here, we demonstrate that the size of the developing dorsal aorta and cardinal vein is reciprocally balanced. Mouse embryos carrying gain-of-function Notch alleles show enlarged aortae and underdeveloped cardinal veins, whereas those with loss-of-function mutations show small aortae and large cardinal veins. Notch does not affect the overall number of endothelial cells but balances the proportion of arterial to venous endothelial cells, thereby modulating the relative sizes of both vessel types. Loss of ephrin B2 or its receptor Ep

SUBMITTER: Kim YH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2596923 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature