...Kenta Niimi; Jun Nakae; Yoshiaki Kubota; Shinobu Inagaki; Tatsuo Furuyama ABSTRACT The microvascular system consists of two cell types: endothelial and mural (pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells; VSMCs) cells. Communication between endothelial and mural cells plays a pivotal role...

... development in zebrafish uncovers the fact that specification into mural cells is positively regulated by Notch signaling. Mural cells Pericytes Vascular smooth muscle cells Zebrafish Notch All blood vessels are built from two principal cell types: endothelial cells (ECs) and mural cells...

...Koji Ando; Shigetomo Fukuhara; Nanae Izumi; Hiroyuki Nakajima; Hajime Fukui; Robert N. Kelsh; Naoki Mochizuki Mural cells (MCs) consisting of vascular smooth muscle cells and pericytes cover the endothelial cells (ECs) to regulate vascular stability and homeostasis. Here, we clarified the mechanism...

... levels of Fn1 . We found that Fn1 synthesized by the NC mediated morphogenesis of the aortic arch artery and differentiation of NC cells into vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) by regulating Notch signaling. We show that NC Fn1 signals in an NC cell-autonomous manner through integrin α5β1 expressed...

... are generated from human pluripotent stem cells, an approach that has potential applications in the field of regenerative medicine. Human pluripotent stem cells Epicardium Vascular smooth muscle cells Epicardium and epicardium-derived cells (EPDCs) play crucial roles in embryonic heart formation...

...Christopher J. Turner; Kwabena Badu-Nkansah; Denise Crowley; Arjan van der Flier; Richard O. Hynes The RGD-binding α5 and αv integrins have been shown to be key regulators of vascular smooth muscle cell (vSMC) function in vitro . However, their role on vSMCs during vascular development in vivo...