Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Chen Q
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4990645 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Nature communications 20160812
Mural cells of the vessel wall, namely pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells, are essential for vascular integrity. The developmental sources of these cells and molecular mechanisms controlling their progenitors in the heart are only partially understood. Here we show that endocardial endothelial cells are progenitors of pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells in the murine embryonic heart. Endocardial cells undergo endothelial-mesenchymal transition and convert into primitive mesenchyma ...[more]