First Author | Klotz L | Year | 2015 |
Journal | Nature | Volume | 522 |
Issue | 7554 | Pages | 62-7 |
PubMed ID | 25992544 | Mgi Jnum | J:222246 |
Mgi Id | MGI:5644189 | Doi | 10.1038/nature14483 |
Citation | Klotz L, et al. (2015) Cardiac lymphatics are heterogeneous in origin and respond to injury. Nature 522(7554):62-7 |
abstractText | The lymphatic vasculature is a blind-ended network crucial for tissue-fluid homeostasis, immune surveillance and lipid absorption from the gut. Recent evidence has proposed an entirely venous-derived mammalian lymphatic system. By contrast, here we show that cardiac lymphatic vessels in mice have a heterogeneous cellular origin, whereby formation of at least part of the cardiac lymphatic network is independent of sprouting from veins. Multiple Cre-lox-based lineage tracing revealed a potential contribution from the putative haemogenic endothelium during development, and discrete lymphatic endothelial progenitor populations were confirmed by conditional knockout of Prox1 in Tie2+ and Vav1+ compartments. In the adult heart, myocardial infarction promoted a significant lymphangiogenic response, which was augmented by treatment with VEGF-C, resulting in improved cardiac function. These data prompt the re-evaluation of a century-long debate on the origin of lymphatic vessels and suggest that lymphangiogenesis may represent a therapeutic target to promote cardiac repair following injury. |