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First published online August 18, 2004

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Catching the tube on time

The formation of blood vessels begins when angioblasts aggregate and assemble into a network of endothelial tubes. This process starts in the mesoderm adjacent to endodermal tissue and requires a signal from the endoderm. Now, Vokes and co-workers (p. 4371) have identified sonic hedgehog (Shh) as this signal. Using in situ hybridisation in chicks, they show that Shh is expressed in the endoderm at the time of vascular tube formation. In mouse and quail, disruption of Hedgehog signalling, by inhibiting or mutating Smoothened, prevents proper tube formation. Furthermore, Shh rescues vascular development in chicks lacking endoderm, and, when added to mouse endothelial cells in culture, promotes vascular assembly. Together, these findings demonstrate that Shh is both necessary and sufficient for the formation of vascular tubes, and is the first identified growth factor to regulate vascular tube formation in vivo.

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Related articles in Development:

Hedgehog signaling is essential for endothelial tube formation during vasculogenesis

Steven A. Vokes, Tatiana A. Yatskievych, Ronald L. Heimark, Jill McMahon, Andrew P. McMahon, Parker B. Antin, and Paul A. Krieg
Development 2004 131: 4371-4380. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?