title: Hemodynamic Control of Endothelial Cell Fates in Development.
abstract: Biomechanical forces are emerging as critical regulators of embryogenesis, particularly in the developing cardiovascular system. From the onset of blood flow, the embryonic vasculature is continuously exposed to a variety of hemodynamic forces. These biomechanical stimuli are key determinants of vascular cell specification and remodeling and the establishment of vascular homeostasis. In recent years, major advances have been made in our understanding of mechano-activated signaling networks that control both spatiotemporal and structural aspects of vascular development. It has become apparent that a major site for mechanotransduction is situated at the interface of blood and the vessel wall and that this process is controlled by the vascular endothelium. In this review, we discuss the hemodynamic control of endothelial cell fates, focusing on arterial-venous specification, lymphatic development, and the endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition, and present some recent insights into the mechano-activated pathways driving these cell fate decisions in the developing embryo.
authors.affiliation: Program in Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; email: guillermo_garcia-cardena@hms.harvard.edu.|Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: García-Cardeña
authors.affiliation: Program in Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; email: guillermo_garcia-cardena@hms.harvard.edu.|Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.|Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC-University Medical Center, 3015 CE, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bendix R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Slegtenhorst
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019070:Cell Lineage; D047108:Embryonic Development; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D012212:Rheology
keywords: endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition; hemodynamic forces; hemogenic; mechanotransduction; shear stress; vascular endothelium