Tracking adult neovascularization during ischemia and inflammation using Vegfr2-LacZ reporter mice

Journal of Vascular Research
Regina HeidenreichGeorg Breier

Abstract

The vascular endothelial growth factor/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGF/VEGFR-2) signal transduction system plays a key role during embryonic vascular development and adult neovascularization. In contrast to many endothelial genes, VEGFR-2 is expressed at low levels in most adult vessels but is strongly upregulated during neovascularization, leading to a pro-angiogenic response. Here, we analyzed the activity of regulatory sequences of the murine Vegfr2 gene during neovessel formation in vivo under ischemic and inflammatory conditions. Hindlimb ischemia was induced in transgenic mice, expressing the LacZ reporter gene under the control of Vegfr2 promoter/enhancer elements. Most vessels in the ischemic muscle tissue showed strong endothelium-specific reporter gene expression, whereas nearly no LacZ-expressing capillaries were observed in untreated control tissue. Cutaneous punch wounds were created to induce angiogenesis under inflammatory conditions, leading to robust LacZ expression in the majority of the blood vessels in the wound tissue. Since the cornea is physiologically avascular, the functionality of these promoter/enhancer elements exclusively in newly formed vessels was confirmed using the cornea mic...Continue Reading

Citations

Oct 7, 2009·Future Cardiology·Mandana Haack-SorensenJens Kastrup
Aug 21, 2010·Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. Part a·Daniel LindhorstMartin Rücker
Oct 24, 2019·Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine·Tingting LiuWang Min
May 13, 2019·Journal of Vascular Research·María-Dolores García-VázquezMaría-Celia Morales

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