Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-15-2017

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed. It is the authors' final version prior to publication in Developmental Biology, Volume 421, Issue 2, January 2017, Pages 108-117.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2016.12.010 Copyright © Elsevier

Abstract

Oxygenated blood from the heart is directed into the systemic circulation through the aortic arch arteries (AAAs). The AAAs arise by remodeling of three symmetrical pairs of pharyngeal arch arteries (PAAs), which connect the heart with the paired dorsal aortae at mid-gestation. Aberrant PAA formation results in defects frequently observed in patients with lethal congenital heart disease. How the PAAs form in mammals is not understood. The work presented in this manuscript shows that the second heart field (SHF) is the major source of progenitors giving rise to the endothelium of the pharyngeal arches 3 - 6, while the endothelium in the pharyngeal arches 1 and 2 is derived from a different source. During the formation of the PAAs 3 - 6, endothelial progenitors in the SHF extend cellular processes toward the pharyngeal endoderm, migrate from the SHF and assemble into a uniform vascular plexus. This plexus then undergoes remodeling, whereby plexus endothelial cells coalesce into a large PAA in each pharyngeal arch. Taken together, our studies establish a platform for investigating cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating PAA formation and alterations that lead to disease.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

PubMed ID

27955943

Language

English

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