TY - JOUR
T1 - VEGF Mediates Commissural Axon Chemoattraction through Its Receptor Flk1
AU - Ruiz de Almodovar, Carmen
AU - Fabre, Pierre J.
AU - Knevels, Ellen
AU - Coulon, Cathy
AU - Segura, Inmaculada
AU - Haddick, Patrick C G
AU - Aerts, Liesbeth
AU - Delattin, Nicolas
AU - Strasser, Geraldine
AU - Oh, Won Jong
AU - Lange, Christian
AU - Vinckier, Stefan
AU - Haigh, Jody
AU - Fouquet, Coralie
AU - Gu, Chengua
AU - Alitalo, Kari
AU - Castellani, Valerie
AU - Tessier-Lavigne, Marc
AU - Chedotal, Alain
AU - Charron, Frederic
AU - Carmeliet, Peter
PY - 2011/6/9
Y1 - 2011/6/9
N2 - Growing axons are guided to their targets by attractive and repulsive cues. In the developing spinal cord, Netrin-1 and Shh guide commissural axons toward the midline. However, the combined inhibition of their activity in commissural axon turning assays does not completely abrogate turning toward floor plate tissue, suggesting that additional guidance cues are present. Here we show that the prototypic angiogenic factor VEGF is secreted by the floor plate and is a chemoattractant for commissural axons in vitro and in vivo. Inactivation of Vegf in the floor plate or of its receptor Flk1 in commissural neurons causes axon guidance defects, whereas Flk1 blockade inhibits turning of axons to VEGF in vitro. Similar to Shh and Netrin-1, VEGF-mediated commissural axon guidance requires the activity of Src family kinases. Our results identify VEGF and Flk1 as a novel ligand/receptor pair controlling commissural axon guidance. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.
AB - Growing axons are guided to their targets by attractive and repulsive cues. In the developing spinal cord, Netrin-1 and Shh guide commissural axons toward the midline. However, the combined inhibition of their activity in commissural axon turning assays does not completely abrogate turning toward floor plate tissue, suggesting that additional guidance cues are present. Here we show that the prototypic angiogenic factor VEGF is secreted by the floor plate and is a chemoattractant for commissural axons in vitro and in vivo. Inactivation of Vegf in the floor plate or of its receptor Flk1 in commissural neurons causes axon guidance defects, whereas Flk1 blockade inhibits turning of axons to VEGF in vitro. Similar to Shh and Netrin-1, VEGF-mediated commissural axon guidance requires the activity of Src family kinases. Our results identify VEGF and Flk1 as a novel ligand/receptor pair controlling commissural axon guidance. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79958036737&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.04.014
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.04.014
M3 - Article
C2 - 21658588
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 70
SP - 966
EP - 978
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 5
ER -