title: Dermal stem cells can differentiate down an endothelial lineage.
abstract: In this study, we have demonstrated that cells of neural crest origin located in the dermal papilla (DP) exhibit endothelial marker expression and a functional activity. When grown in endothelial growth media, DP primary cultures upregulate expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (FLT1) mRNA and downregulate expression of the dermal stem cell marker α-smooth muscle actin. DP cells have demonstrated functional characteristics of endothelial cells, including the ability to form capillary-like structures on Matrigel, increase uptake of low-density lipoprotein and upregulate ICAM1 (CD54) in response to tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) stimulation. We confirmed that these observations were not due to contaminating endothelial cells, by using DP clones. We have also used the WNT1cre/ROSA26R and WNT1cre/YFP lineage-tracing mouse models to identify a population of neural crest-derived cells in DP cultures that express the endothelial marker PECAM (CD31); these cells also form capillary-like structures on Matrigel. Importantly, cells of neural crest origin that express markers of endothelial and mesenchymal lineages exist within the dermal sheath of the vibrissae follicle.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Gavin D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Colin A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Jahoda
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gledhill
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: W Andrew
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Owens
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hole
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D002999:Clone Cells; D020405:Dermis / Q000166:cytology*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; D006801:Humans; D019426:Integrases / Q000378:metabolism; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D014841:von Willebrand Factor / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D015415:Biomarkers; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; C544013:alpha-smooth muscle actin, mouse; D014841:von Willebrand Factor; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases