| First Author | Le Bras B | Year | 2006 |
| Journal | Nat Neurosci | Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 340-8 |
| PubMed ID | 16462734 | Mgi Jnum | J:107096 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3620294 | Doi | 10.1038/nn1646 |
| Citation | Le Bras B, et al. (2006) VEGF-C is a trophic factor for neural progenitors in the vertebrate embryonic brain. Nat Neurosci 9(3):340-8 |
| abstractText | Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) was first identified as a regulator of the vascular system, where it is required for the development of lymphatic vessels. Here we report actions of VEGF-C in the central nervous system. We detected the expression of the VEGF-C receptor VEGFR-3 in neural progenitor cells in Xenopus laevis and mouse embryos. In Xenopus tadpole VEGF-C knockdowns and in mice lacking Vegfc, the proliferation of neural progenitors expressing VEGFR-3 was severely reduced, in the absence of intracerebral blood vessel defects. In addition, Vegfc-deficient mouse embryos showed a selective loss of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in the embryonic optic nerve. In vitro, VEGF-C stimulated the proliferation of OPCs expressing VEGFR-3 and nestin-positive ventricular neural cells. VEGF-C thus has a new, evolutionary conserved function as a growth factor selectively required by neural progenitor cells expressing its receptor VEGFR-3. |
