title: VEGF expression is developmentally regulated during human brain angiogenesis.
abstract: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenic factor working as an endothelial cell-specific mitogen and exerting a trophic effect on neurons and glial cells, both these activities being essential during central nervous system vascularisation, development and repair. The vascularisation of human telencephalon takes place by means of an angiogenic mechanism, which starts at the beginning of corticogenesis and actively proceeds up to the last neuronal migration, when the basic scheme of the vascular network has been drawn. Our study focused on VEGF during this critical developmental period with the aim of identifying the cells that express VEGF and of correlating the events of angiogenesis with the main events of cerebral cortex formation. The results show that in fetal human brain VEGF protein is located on multiple cell types, cells proper to the nervous tissue, neuroepithelial cells, neuroblasts and radial glia cells, and non-neuronal cells, endothelial and periendothelial cells. In these cells VEGF expression appears developmentally regulated and is correlated with angiogenesis, which in turn responds to the high metabolic demands of the differentiating neocortex.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Anatomia Umana e di Istologia, Università di Bari, Italy. virgintino@histology.uniba.it
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Virgintino
authors.forename: Mariella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Errede
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Girolamo
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Masciandaro
authors.forename: Mirella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bertossi
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002450:Cell Communication; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000254:growth & development; D005333:Fetus; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000235:genetics*; D009457:Neuroglia; D009474:Neurons; D013687:Telencephalon / Q000098:blood supply; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A