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(Circulation Research. 2008;103:929.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Reviews

Brothers and Sisters

Molecular Insights Into Arterial–Venous Heterogeneity

Julius Aitsebaomo, Andrea L. Portbury, Jonathan C. Schisler, Cam Patterson

From the Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center and Division of Cardiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Correspondence to Cam Patterson, MD, Director, Division of Cardiology and Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 8200 Medical Biomolecular Research Building, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7126. E-mail cpatters{at}med.unc.edu

This Review is part of a thematic series on Arterial Specification: A Finishing School for the Endothelium, which includes the following articles:

Role of Crosstalk Between Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase and Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase/Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathways in Artery–Vein Specification [2008;103:571–577]

Branching Morphogenesis [2008;103:784–795]

Brothers and Sisters: Molecular Insights into Arterial–Venous Heterogeneity

Fibroblast Growth Factor–Hedgehog Signaling in Coronary Arterial Circulation

Arterial Guidance

Arterial–Venous Specification in Development
Michael Simons Guest Editor

The molecular differences between arteries and veins are genetically predetermined and are evident even before the first embryonic heart beat. Although ephrinB2 and EphB4 are expressed in cells that will ultimately differentiate into arteries and veins, respectively, many other genes have been shown to play a significant role in cell fate determination. The expression patterns of ephrinB2 and EphB4 are restricted to arterial–venous boundaries, and Eph/ephrin signaling provides repulsive cues at arterial–venous boundaries that are thought to prevent intermixing of arterial- and venous-fated cells. However, the maintenance of arterial–venous fate is susceptible to some degree of plasticity. Thus, in response to signals from the ambient microenvironment and shear stress, there is flow-mediated intercalation of the arteries and veins that ultimately leads to the formation of a functional, closed-loop circulation. In addition, cells in the blood vessels of each organ undergo epigenetic, morphological, and functional adaptive changes that are specific to the proximate function of their cognate organ(s). These adaptive changes result in an interorgan and intraorgan vessel heterogeneity that manifest clinically in a disparate response of different organs to identical risk factors and injury in the same animal. In this review, we focus on the molecular and physiological factors influencing arterial–venous heterogeneity between and within different organ(s). We explore arterial–venous differences in selected organs, as well as their respective endothelial cell architectural organization that results in their inter- and intraorgan heterogeneity.

Key Words: molecular heterogeneity • arterial–venous specification • vascular development