Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Marwa Mahmoud, Kathleen Allinson, Dr Jason Zhai, Rachael Oakenfull, Professor Helen ArthurORCiD
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
Rationale: Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) result in anomalous direct blood flow between arteries and veins, bypassing the normal capillary bed. Depending on size and location, AVMs may lead to severe clinical effects including systemic cyanosis (pulmonary AVMs), hemorrhagic stroke (cerebral AVMs) and high output cardiac failure (hepatic AVMs). The factors leading to AVM formation are poorly understood, but patients with the familial disease hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) develop AVMs at high frequency. As most HHT patients have mutations in ENG (endoglin) or ACVRL1 (activin receptor-like kinase 1), a better understanding of the role of these genes in vascular development is likely to reveal the etiology of AVM formation. Objective: Using a mouse with a conditional mutation in the Eng gene, we investigated the sequence of abnormal cellular events occurring during development of an AVM. Methods and Results: In the absence of endoglin, subcutaneous Matrigel implants in adult mice were populated by reduced numbers of new blood vessels compared with controls, and resulted in local venous enlargement (venomegaly). To investigate abnormal vascular responses in more detail, we turned to the more readily accessible vasculature of the neonatal retina. Endoglin-deficient retinas exhibited delayed remodeling of the capillary plexus, increased proliferation of endothelial cells and localized AVMs. Muscularization of the resulting arteriovenous shunts appeared to be a secondary response to increased blood flow. Conclusions: AVMs develop when an angiogenic stimulus is combined with endoglin depletion. Moreover, AVM formation appears to result from the combination of delayed vascular remodeling and an inappropriate endothelial cell proliferation response in the absence of endoglin. (Circ Res. 2010;106:1425-1433.)
Author(s): Mahmoud M, Allinson KR, Zhai ZH, Oakenfull R, Ghandi P, Adams RH, Fruttiger M, Arthur HM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Circulation Research
Year: 2010
Volume: 106
Issue: 8
Pages: 1425-1433
Print publication date: 01/04/2010
ISSN (print): 0009-7330
ISSN (electronic): 1524-4571
Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.109.211037
DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.109.211037
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
