Single-Cell-Resolution Fate Mapping Reveals Embryonic Venous Origins of Fenestrated Hindbrain Choroid Plexus...

In the brain, endothelial cell (EC) subtypes characterized by blood-brain barrier (BBB) properties or fenestrated pores form essential brain-blood interfaces and exhibit markedly distinct permeability. The choroid plexus (CP) establishes fenestrated vasculature lacking the BBB to efficiently regulate cerebrospinal fluid balance, yet its developmental origins and mechanisms remain poorly defined. Using single-cell-resolution fate mapping in zebrafish, we identify here two venous sources that give rise to the hindbrain myelencephalic CP (mCP) vasculature. RNAscope and BAC transgenic analyses reveal highly abundant and persistent expression of the venous marker flt4 in these EC lineages, supporting their identities. Unexpectedly, we find that these venous origins of the mCP vasculature also contribute ECs to diverse cranial vessels, including those that maintain low flt4 expression and later acquire BBB characteristics. Functionally, flt4 null and cytoplasmic-domain-deletion mutants exacerbate mCP vascularization defects when combined with vegfr2 signaling deficiency, without disrupting neighboring BBB-type vessels. Pharmacological data support this corequirement of Flt4 and Vegfr2 signaling in mCP vascularization and further suggest that the PI3K and ERK pathways are necessary for this process. Together, these findings reveal embryonic venous lineages and molecular pathways required for hindbrain CP vascularization and imply that Flt4 signaling contributes to the angiogenic separation of CP- and BBB-associated capillaries originating from shared embryonic domains.