title: Vascular instruction of pancreas development.
abstract: Blood vessels course through organs, providing them with essential nutrient and gaseous exchange. However, the vasculature has also been shown to provide non-nutritional signals that play key roles in the control of organ growth, morphogenesis and homeostasis. Here, we examine a decade of work on the contribution of vascular paracrine signals to developing tissues, with a focus on pancreatic β-cells. During the early stages of embryonic development, blood vessels are required for pancreas specification. Later, the vasculature constrains pancreas branching, differentiation and growth. During adult life, capillaries provide a vascular niche for the maintenance of β-cell function and survival. We explore the possibility that the vasculature constitutes a dynamic and regionalized signaling system that carries out multiple and changing functions as it coordinately grows with the pancreatic epithelial tree.
authors: Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA. ondine.cleaver@utsouthwestern.edu
authors: Ondine
authors: O
authors: Cleaver
authors: Yuval
authors: Y
authors: Dor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000628:therapy; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000098:blood supply / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation; D008954:Models, Biological; D010179:Pancreas / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D019899:Paracrine Communication; D055153:Stem Cell Niche