| First Author | Grazioli A | Year | 2006 |
| Journal | Dev Biol | Volume | 293 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 165-77 |
| PubMed ID | 16529735 | Mgi Jnum | J:108464 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3624077 | Doi | 10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.01.026 |
| Citation | Grazioli A, et al. (2006) Defective blood vessel development and pericyte/pvSMC distribution in alpha4 integrin-deficient mouse embryos. Dev Biol 293(1):165-77 |
| abstractText | Blood vessel development is in part regulated by pericytes/presumptive vascular smooth muscle cells (PC/pvSMCs). Here, we demonstrate that interactions between PC/pvSMCs and extracellular matrix play a critical role in this event. We show that the cranial vessels in alpha4 integrin-deficient mouse embryos at the stage of vessel remodeling are increased in diameter. This defect is accompanied by a failure of PC/pvSMCs, which normally express alpha4beta1 integrin, to spread uniformly along the vessels. We also find that fibronectin but not VCAM-1 is localized in the cranial vessels at this stage. Furthermore, cultured alpha4 integrin-null PC/pvSMCs plated on fibronectin display a delay in initiating migration, a reduction in migration speed, and a decrease in directional persistence in response to a polarized force of shear flow. These results suggest that specific motile activities of PC/pvSMCs regulated by mechanical signals imposed by the interstitial extracellular matrix may also be required in vivo for the distribution and function of the PC/pvSMCs during blood vessel development. |
