Stenman Jan M, Rajagopal Jay, Carroll Thomas J, Ishibashi Makoto, McMahon Jill, McMahon Andrew P
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Science. 2008 Nov 21;322(5905):1247-50. doi: 10.1126/science.1164594.
Every organ depends on blood vessels for oxygen and nutrients, but the vasculature associated with individual organs can be structurally and molecularly diverse. The central nervous system (CNS) vasculature consists of a tightly sealed endothelium that forms the blood-brain barrier, whereas blood vessels of other organs are more porous. Wnt7a and Wnt7b encode two Wnt ligands produced by the neuroepithelium of the developing CNS coincident with vascular invasion. Using genetic mouse models, we found that these ligands directly target the vascular endothelium and that the CNS uses the canonical Wnt signaling pathway to promote formation and CNS-specific differentiation of the organ's vasculature.
每个器官都依赖血管来获取氧气和营养物质，但与各个器官相关的脉管系统在结构和分子层面可能存在差异。中枢神经系统（CNS）的脉管系统由形成血脑屏障的紧密密封的内皮细胞组成，而其他器官的血管则更具通透性。Wnt7a和Wnt7b编码两种由发育中的中枢神经系统神经上皮产生的Wnt配体，与血管侵入同时发生。利用基因小鼠模型，我们发现这些配体直接作用于血管内皮，并且中枢神经系统利用经典Wnt信号通路来促进该器官脉管系统的形成和中枢神经系统特异性分化。
