Developmental angiogenesis of the central nervous system.
The vasculature of the central nervous system (CNS) is highly specialized with a blood-brain-barrier, reciprocal neuroepithelial-endothelial cell interactions and extensive pericyte coverage. Developmentally, numerous important signaling pathways participate in CNS angiogenesis to orchestrate the precise timing and spatial arrangement of the complex CNS vascular network. From a therapeutic standpoint, the CNS vasculature has attracted increased attention since many human ailments, such as stroke, retinopathy, cancer and autoimmune disease are intimately associated with the biology of CNS blood vessels. This review focuses on growth factor pathways that have been shown to be important in developmental CNS vascularization through studies of mouse genetic models and human diseases.
Mancuso
Michael R
MR
Stanford University School of Medicine. Division of Hematology, Stanford, CA.
Kuhnert
Frank
F
Kuo
Calvin J
CJ
D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000378:metabolism; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier; D002465:Cell Movement; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D016023:Integrins / Q000378:metabolism; D008024:Ligands; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
D016023:Integrins; D008024:Ligands; D051153:Wnt Proteins