Common mechanisms of nerve and blood vessel wiring.
Blood vessels and nerve fibres course throughout the body in an orderly pattern, often alongside one another. Although superficially distinct, the mechanisms involved in wiring neural and vascular networks seem to share some deep similarities. The discovery of key axon guidance molecules over the past decade has shown that axons are guided to their targets by finely tuned codes of attractive and repulsive cues, and recent studies reveal that these cues also help blood vessels to navigate to their targets. Parallels have also emerged between the actions of growth factors that direct angiogenic sprouting and those that regulate axon terminal arborization.
Carmeliet
Peter
P
The Center for Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy (CTG), Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Tessier-Lavigne
Marc
M
D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D009420:Nervous System / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism
D006133:Growth Substances; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface