|
|
||||||||
1 Laboratory for Physiology, Department of Pharmacology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
2 Cardiovascular Research, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston
In addition to a number of common features, cardiovascular endothelium displays structural, functional, and genetic differences according to its position in the cardiovascular tree. In the heart, endocardial and cardiac microvascular endothelia (CMVE) interact directly with surrounding cardiomyocytes, whereas the endothelium within blood vessels interacts with smooth muscle cells. In this study, we investigated whether cardiac endothelial cells were distinct from aortic endothelial (AE) cells at the transcriptional level. Using Affymetrix microarray technology and subsequent real-time PCR analyses for validation, we identified sets of genes with marked preferential expression in cultured endocardial endothelium (EE) compared with cultured AE and vice versa. Among the genes preferentially expressed in EE, some were also expressed in cultured CMVE. Immunohistochemical staining of cardiac and aortic tissue revealed that the endothelial genetic diversity observed in culture reflects, in part, a physiological diversity existing in vivo. The identification of a set of genes preferentially expressed in EE provides new insights in the functional adaptations of this endothelial subtype to its intracavitary localization and to its role in the control of ventricular performance.
heart; gene expression; microarray analysis; endothelium; cardiomyocyte
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
D. J. Metcalf, T. D. Nightingale, H. L. Zenner, W. W. Lui-Roberts, and D. F. Cutler Formation and function of Weibel-Palade bodies J. Cell Sci., January 1, 2008; 121(1): 19 - 27. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. R. Smith, D. Choi, T. J. Chipps, Y. Pan, D. O. Zamora, M. H. Davies, B. Babra, M. R. Powers, S. R. Planck, and J. T. Rosenbaum Unique Gene Expression Profiles of Donor-Matched Human Retinal and Choroidal Vascular Endothelial Cells Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., June 1, 2007; 48(6): 2676 - 2684. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. A. Jarvis and J. A. Nelson Human Cytomegalovirus Tropism for Endothelial Cells: Not All Endothelial Cells Are Created Equal J. Virol., March 1, 2007; 81(5): 2095 - 2101. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. Lemmens, V. F. M. Segers, M. Demolder, and G. W. De Keulenaer Role of Neuregulin-1/ErbB2 Signaling in Endothelium-Cardiomyocyte Cross-talk J. Biol. Chem., July 14, 2006; 281(28): 19469 - 19477. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
V. F. M. Segers, I. Van Riet, L. J. Andries, K. Lemmens, M. J. Demolder, A. J. M. L. De Becker, M. M. Kockx, and G. W. De Keulenaer Mesenchymal stem cell adhesion to cardiac microvascular endothelium: activators and mechanisms Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, April 1, 2006; 290(4): H1370 - H1377. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |