title: Regulation of the nascent brain vascular network by neural progenitors.
abstract: Neural progenitors are central players in the development of the brain neural circuitry. They not only produce the diverse neuronal and glial cell types in the brain, but also guide their migration in this process. Recent evidence indicates that neural progenitors also play a critical role in the development of the brain vascular network. At an early stage, neural progenitors have been found to facilitate the ingression of blood vessels from outside the neural tube, through VEGF and canonical Wnt signaling. Subsequently, neural progenitors directly communicate with endothelial cells to stabilize nascent brain vessels, in part through down-regulating Wnt pathway activity. Furthermore, neural progenitors promote nascent brain vessel integrity, through integrin αvβ8-dependent TGFβ signaling. In this review, we will discuss the evidence for, as well as questions that remain, regarding these novel roles of neural progenitors and the underlying mechanisms in their regulation of the nascent brain vascular network.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, United States; Genetics Training Program, Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, United States.
authors.forename: Devi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Santhosh
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, United States. Electronic address: z.huang@neurology.wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D051153:Wnt Proteins
keywords: Blood vessel stabilization; Integrin αvβ8; Neural progenitor; TGFβ; VEGF; Wnt/β-catenin