Retinal myeloid cells regulate tip cell selection and vascular branching morphogenesis via Notch ligand Delta-like 1.

ABSTRACT: During angiogenesis, single endothelial cells (EC) specialize into tip cells that guide vessel sprouting towards growth factor gradients and instruct the adjacent vessel stalk. The balance between tip and stalk cells is regulated by endothelial Notch signalling through the expression of Notch ligand Delta-like 4 (Dll4) in tip cells, which suppresses a tip cell fate in adjacent stalk cells. Here we show, using genetic reporter and conditional deletion strategies, that myeloid cells regulate tip cell numbers and Dll4 expression via the Notch ligand Dll1 during vascular development in the retina. Dll1 is selectively expressed by a subpopulation of retinal myeloid cells, which progressively localizes to the sprouting vascular network. Conditional, myeloid-specific deletion of Dll1 impairs endo

SUBMITTER: Haupt F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6611798 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature