Dataset Information

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is required for CNS, but not non-CNS, angiogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Despite the importance of CNS blood vessels, the molecular mechanisms that regulate CNS angiogenesis and blood-brain barrier (BBB) formation are largely unknown. Here we analyze the role of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in regulating the formation of CNS blood vessels. First, through the analysis of TOP-Gal Wnt reporter mice, we identify that canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is specifically activated in CNS, but not non-CNS, blood vessels during development. This activation correlates with the expression of different Wnt ligands by neural progenitor cells in distinct locations throughout the CNS, including Wnt7a and Wnt7b in ventral regions and Wnt1, Wnt3, Wnt3a, and Wnt4 in dorsal regions. Blockade of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in vivo specifically disrupts CNS, but not non-CNS, angiogenesis. These defects include reduction in vessel number, loss of capillary beds, and the formation of hemorrhagic vascular malformations that remain adherent to the meninges. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Wnt/beta-catenin signaling regulates the expression of the BBB-specific glucose transporter glut-1. Taken together these experiments reveal an essential role for Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in driving CNS-specific angiogenesis and provide molecular evidence that angiogenesis and BBB formation are in part linked.

SUBMITTER: Daneman R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2626756 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is required for CNS, but not non-CNS, angiogenesis.

Daneman Richard R Agalliu Dritan D Zhou Lu L Kuhnert Frank F Kuo Calvin J CJ Barres Ben A BA

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20090107 2

Despite the importance of CNS blood vessels, the molecular mechanisms that regulate CNS angiogenesis and blood-brain barrier (BBB) formation are largely unknown. Here we analyze the role of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in regulating the formation of CNS blood vessels. First, through the analysis of TOP-Gal Wnt reporter mice, we identify that canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is specifically activated in CNS, but not non-CNS, blood vessels during development. This activation correlates with the ...[more]

PMID: 19129494

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundBeta-catenin is an essential mediator of canonical Wnt signaling and a central component of the cadherin-catenin epithelial adhesion complex. Dysregulation of beta-catenin expression has been described in pancreatic neoplasia. Newly published studies have suggested that beta-catenin is critical for normal pancreatic development although these reports reached somewhat different conclusions. In addition, the molecular mechanisms by which loss of beta-catenin affects pancreas development are not well understood. The goals of this study then were; 1] to further investigate the role of beta-catenin in pancreatic development using a conditional knockout approach and 2] to identify possible mechanisms by which loss of beta-catenin disrupts pancreatic development. A Pdx1-cre mouse line was used to delete a floxed beta-catenin allele specifically in the developing pancreas, and embryonic pancreata were studied by immunohistochemistry and microarray analysis.ResultsPdx1-cre floxed beta-catenin animals were viable but demonstrated small body size and shortened median survival. The pancreata from knockout mice were hypoplastic and histologically demonstrated a striking paucity of exocrine pancreas, acinar to duct metaplasia, but generally intact pancreatic islets containing all lineages of endocrine cells. In animals with extensive acinar hypoplasia, putative hepatocyte transdifferention was occasionally observed. Obvious and uniform pancreatic hypoplasia was observed by embryonic day E16.5. Transcriptional profiling of Pdx1-cre floxed beta-catenin embryonic pancreata at E14.5, before there was a morphological phenotype, revealed significant decreases in the beta-catenin target gene N-myc, and the basic HLH transcription factor PTF1, and an increase of several pancreatic zymogens compared to control animals. By E16.5, there was a dramatic loss of exocrine markers and an increase in Hoxb4, which is normally expressed anterior to the pancreas.ConclusionWe conclude that beta-catenin expression is required for development of the exocrine pancreas, but is not required for development of the endocrine compartment. In contrast, beta-catenin/Wnt signaling appears to be critical for proliferation of PTF1+ nascent acinar cells and may also function, in part, to maintain an undifferentiated state in exocrine/acinar cell precursors. Finally, beta-catenin may be required to maintain positional identity of the pancreatic endoderm along the anterior-posterior axis. This data is consistent with the findings of frequent beta-catenin mutations in carcinomas of acinar cell lineage seen in humans.

Dataset Information

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is required for CNS, but not non-CNS, angiogenesis.

Publications

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is required for CNS, but not non-CNS, angiogenesis.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets