Research article summary (published 29 Sep 2009):

Alpha-parvin controls vascular mural cell recruitment to vessel wall by regulating RhoA/ROCK signalling.

Full Abstract

During blood vessel development, vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) and pericytes (PCs) are recruited to nascent vessels to stabilize them and to guide further vessel remodelling. Here, we show that loss of the focal adhesion (FA) protein alpha-parvin (alpha-pv) in mice leads to embryonic lethality due to severe cardiovascular defects. The vascular abnormalities are characterized by poor vessel remodelling, impaired coverage of endothelial tubes with vSMC/PCs and defective association of the recruited vSMC/PCs with endothelial cells (ECs). Alpha-pv-deficient vSMCs are round and hypercontractile leading either to their accumulation in the tissue or to local vessel constrictions. Because of the high contractility, alpha-pv-deficient vSMCs fail to polarize their cytoskeleton resulting in loss of persistent and directed migration. Mechanistically, the absence of alpha-pv leads to increased RhoA and Rho-kinase (ROCK)-mediated signalling, activation of myosin II and actomyosin hypercontraction in vSMCs. Our findings show that alpha-pv represents an essential adhesion checkpoint that controls RhoA/ROCK-mediated contractility in vSMCs.

Author information

Author/s: Montanez, Eloi (E); Wickström, Sara A (SA); Altstätter, Johannes (J); Chu, Haiyan (H); Fässler, Reinhard (R);

Affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The EMBO journal (EMBO J), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Oct; vol 28 (issue 20) : pp 3132-44

Dates: Created 2009/10/21; Completed 2009/11/03;

PMID: 19798050, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/3/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Animals Blood Vessels - cytology Cardiovascular Diseases - embryology; genetics Cell Movement - genetics; physiology Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel Endothelial Cells - cytology Immunoblotting Immunohistochemistry Immunoprecipitation

Immunoprecipitation Mice Microfilament Proteins - genetics; physiology Muscle, Smooth, Vascular - cytology Pericytes - cytology RNA, Small Interfering Signal Transduction - genetics; physiology rho-Associated Kinases - metabolism rhoA GTP-Binding Protein - metabolism

Associated Chemicals: Microfilament Proteins (0) ; RNA, Small Interfering (0) ; alpha-parvin protein, mouse (0) ; rho-Associated Kinases (EC 2.7.11.1) ; rhoA GTP-Binding Protein (EC 3.6.5.2)

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