| First Author | Selbonne S | Year | 2015 |
| Journal | Cell Mol Life Sci | Volume | 72 |
| Issue | 20 | Pages | 3999-4011 |
| PubMed ID | 26109427 | Mgi Jnum | J:311487 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6765056 | Doi | 10.1007/s00018-015-1972-5 |
| Citation | Selbonne S, et al. (2015) Protease nexin-1 regulates retinal vascular development. Cell Mol Life Sci 72(20):3999-4011 |
| abstractText | We recently identified protease nexin-1 (PN-1) or serpinE2, as a possibly underestimated player in maintaining angiogenic balance. Here, we used the well-characterized postnatal vascular development of newborn mouse retina to further investigate the role and the mechanism of action of PN-1 in physiological angiogenesis. The development of retinal vasculature was analysed by endothelial cell staining with isolectin B4. PN-1-deficient (PN-1(-/-)) retina displayed increased vascularization in the postnatal period, with elevated capillary thickness and density, compared to their wild-type littermate (WT). Moreover, PN-1(-/-) retina presented more veins/arteries than WT retina. The kinetics of retinal vasculature development, retinal VEGF expression and overall retinal structure were similar in WT and PN-1(-/-) mice, but we observed a hyperproliferation of vascular cells in PN-1(-/-) retina. Expression of PN-1 was analysed by immunoblotting and X-Gal staining of retinas from mice expressing beta-galactosidase under a PN-1 promoter. PN-1 was highly expressed in the first week following birth and then progressively decreased to a low level in adult retina where it localized on the retinal arteries. PCR arrays performed on mouse retinal RNA identified two angiogenesis-related factors, midkine and Smad5, that were overexpressed in PN-1(-/-) newborn mice and this was confirmed by RT-PCR. Both the higher vascularization and the overexpression of midkine and Smad5 mRNA were also observed in gastrocnemius muscle of PN-1(-/-) mice, suggesting that PN-1 interferes with these pathways. Together, our results demonstrate that PN-1 strongly limits physiological angiogenesis and suggest that modulation of PN-1 expression could represent a new way to regulate angiogenesis. |
