The Development and Regeneration of Coronary Arteries
Lingjuan He1,2, Bin Zhou3,4,5,6
1The State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, CAS Center for Excellence on Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China.
Insights
Coronary endothelial cells develop from multiple sources during embryogenesis. Post-injury, existing endothelial cells primarily drive cardiac neovascularization, not other cell types.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Regenerative Medicine
Background:
- Coronary endothelial cells form the heart's vasculature.
- Understanding their origin is crucial for cardiac repair and development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the cellular origins of coronary endothelial cells.
- To discuss their development during embryogenesis and neovascularization after cardiac injury.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of recent studies.
- Analysis of developmental and injury models.
Main Results:
- Embryonic origins include proepicardium, endocardium, and sinus venosus, with debated contributions.
- Adult neovascularization after injury is mainly mediated by pre-existing endothelial cells.
- Evidence for other cell types (fibroblasts, progenitor cells) contributing to neovascularization is limited.
Conclusions:
- Coronary vessel development is complex with diverse embryonic sources.
- Pre-existing endothelial cells are the primary source for neovascularization in the adult heart post-injury.
Purpose Of Review:
In this review, we aim to summarize and discuss the cellular origins of the coronary endothelial cells during development and neovascularization in the adult stage after cardiac injury.
Recent Findings:
Recent work identified three different developmental origins for coronary endothelial cells: proepicardium, endocardium, and sinus venosus. However, the level of contribution by each source remains debated. During heart injury and regeneration, although multiple cell types such as endothelial progenitor cells, epicardial cells, and endocardial cells were reported to contribute neovascularization, convincing evidence is still lacking.. Recently, fibroblasts were reported to contribute to endothelial cells after cardiac injury through mesenchymal-to-endothelial transition. A subsequent study demonstrated that pre-existing endothelial cells mainly mediate cardiac neovascularization after injury. The developmental origins of coronary vessels are diverse and further studies are needed to address the exact contribution from each source and the molecular mechanism governing distinct vessel formation programs. In the adult stage, neovascularization is mainly mediated by the pre-existing endothelial cells, with negligible contribution from other sources.
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