Abstract
Recent reports suggest that mammalian embryonic coronary endothelium (CoE) originates from the sinus venosus and ventricular endocardium. However, the contribution of extracardiac cells to CoE is thought to be minor and nonsignificant for coronary formation. Using classic (Wt1Cre) and previously undescribed (G2-Gata4Cre) transgenic mouse models for the study of coronary vascular development, we show that extracardiac septum transversum/proepicardium (ST/PE)-derived endothelial cells are required for the formation of ventricular coronary arterio–venous vascular connections. Our results indicate that at least 20% of embryonic coronary arterial and capillary endothelial cells derive from the ST/PE compartment. Moreover, we show that conditional deletion of the ST/PE lineage-specific Wilms’ tumor suppressor gene (Wt1) in the ST/PE ofG2-Gata4Cre mice and in the endothelium of Tie2Cre mice disrupts embryonic coronary transmural patterning, leading to embryonic death. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ST/PE-derived endothelial cells contribute significantly to and are required for proper coronary vascular morphogenesis.
Funder
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness | Instituto de Salud Carlos III
Seventh Framework Programme
Consejería Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de Andalucia
Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Fondation ARC pour la Recherche sur le Cancer
Fondation de France
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Cited by
93 articles.
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