Integrin-α5β1 is not required for mural cell functions during development of blood vessels but is required for lymphatic-blood vessel separation and lymphovenous valve formation.

ABSTRACT: Integrin α5β1 is essential for vascular development but it remains unclear precisely where and how it functions. Here, we report that deletion of the gene encoding the integrin-α5 subunit (Itga5) using the Pdgfrb-Cre transgenic mouse line, leads to oedema, haemorrhage and increased levels of embryonic lethality. Unexpectedly, these defects were not caused by loss of α5 from Pdgfrb-Cre expressing mural cells (pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells), which wrap around the endothelium and stabilise blood vessels, nor by defects in the heart or great vessels, but were due to abnormal development of the lymphatic vasculature. Reminiscent of the pathologies seen in the human lymphatic malformation, fetal cystic hygroma, α5 mutants display defects both in the separation of their blood and lym

SUBMITTER: Turner CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4113717 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature