title: Intravital two-photon microscopy of lymphatic vessel development and function using a transgenic Prox1 promoter-directed mOrange2 reporter mouse.
abstract: Lymphatic vessels, the second vascular system of higher vertebrates, are indispensable for fluid tissue homoeostasis, dietary fat resorption and immune surveillance. Not only are lymphatic vessels formed during fetal development, when the lymphatic endothelium differentiates and separates from blood endothelial cells, but also lymphangiogenesis occurs during adult life under conditions of inflammation, wound healing and tumour formation. Under all of these conditions, haemopoietic cells can exert instructive influences on lymph vessel growth and are essential for the vital separation of blood and lymphatic vessels. LECs (lymphatic endothelial cells) are characterized by expression of a number of unique genes that distinguish them from blood endothelium and can be utilized to drive reporter genes in a lymph endothelial-specific fashion. In the present paper, we describe the Prox1 (prospero homeobox protein 1) promoter-driven expression of the fluorescent protein mOrange2, which allows the specific intravital visualization of lymph vessel growth and behaviour during mouse fetal development and in adult mice.
authors: Cell Signalling Laboratory, Department of Vascular Cell Biology, Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Röntgenstrasse 20, D-48149 Münster, Germany. fkiefer@gwdg.de
authors: René
authors: R
authors: Hägerling
authors: Cathrin
authors: C
authors: Pollmann
authors: Ludmila
authors: L
authors: Kremer
authors: Volker
authors: V
authors: Andresen
authors: Friedemann
authors: F
authors: Kiefer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017930:Genes, Reporter / Q000235:genetics*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D042583:Lymphangiogenesis; D042601:Lymphatic Vessels / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D036641:Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton / Q000379:methods*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D000098551:Prospero-Related Homeobox 1 Protein
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D000098551:Prospero-Related Homeobox 1 Protein