R-Ras Deficiency in Pericytes Causes Frequent Microphthalmia and Perturbs Retinal Vascular Development.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The retinal vasculature is heavily invested by pericytes. Small GTPase R-Ras is highly expressed in endothelial cells and pericytes, suggesting importance of this Ras homolog for the regulation of the blood vessel wall. We investigated the specific contribution of pericyte-expressed R-Ras to the development of the retinal vasculature.

Methods

The effect of R-Ras deficiency in pericytes was analyzed in pericyte-targeted conditional Rras knockout mice at birth and during the capillary plexus formation in the neonatal retina.

Results

The offspring of these mice frequently exhibited unilateral microphthalmia. Analyses of the developing retinal vasculature in the eyes without microphthalmia revealed excessive endothelial cell proliferation, sprouting, and branching

SUBMITTER: Herrera JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8263468 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature