| First Author | Mukouyama YS | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | Development | Volume | 132 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 941-52 |
| PubMed ID | 15673567 | Mgi Jnum | J:96924 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3573963 | Doi | 10.1242/dev.01675 |
| Citation | Mukouyama YS, et al. (2005) Peripheral nerve-derived VEGF promotes arterial differentiation via neuropilin 1-mediated positive feedback. Development 132(5):941-952 |
| abstractText | In developing limb skin, peripheral nerves are required for arterial differentiation, and guide the pattern of arterial branching. In vitro experiments suggest that nerve-derived VEGF may be important for arteriogenesis, but its role in vivo remains unclear. Using a series of nerve-specific Cre lines, we show that VEGF derived from sensory neurons, motoneurons and/or Schwann cells is required for arteriogenesis in vivo. Arteriogenesis also requires endothelial expression of NRP1, an artery-specific coreceptor for VEGF(164) that is itself induced by VEGF. Our results provide the first evidence that VEGF is necessary for arteriogenesis from a primitive capillary plexus in vivo, and show that in limb skin the nerve is indeed the principal source of this signal. They also suggest a model in which a `winner-takes-all' competition for VEGF may control arterial differentiation, with the outcome biased by a VEGF(164)-NRP1 positive-feedback loop. Our results also demonstrate that nerve-vessel alignment is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for nerve-induced arteriogenesis. Different mechanisms therefore probably underlie these endothelial patterning and differentiation processes. |
