The precise cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating adventitial vasa vasorum neovascularization, which occurs in the pulmonary arterial circulation in response to hypoxia, remain unknown. Here, using a technique to isolate and culture adventitial fibroblasts (AdvFBs) and vasa vasorum endothelial cells (VVECs) from the adventitia of pulmonary arteries, we report that hypoxia-activated pulmonary artery AdvFBs exhibited pro-angiogenic properties and influenced the angiogenic phenotype of VVEC, in a process of cell-cell communication involving endothelin-1 (ET-1). We demonstrated that AdvFBs, either via co-culture or conditioned media, stimulated VVEC proliferation and augmented the self-assembly and integrity of cord-like networks that formed when VVECs where cultured on Matrigel. In addition, hypoxia-activated AdvFBs produced ET-1, suggesting a paracrine role for this pro-angiogenic molecule in these processes. When co-cultured on Matrigel, AdvFBs and VVECs self-assembled into heterotypic cord-like networks, a process augmented by hypoxia but attenuated by either selective endothelin receptor antagonists or oligonucleotides targeting prepro-ET-1 mRNA. From these observations, we propose that hypoxia-activated AdvFBs exhibit pro-angiogenic properties and, as such, communicate with VVECs, in a process involving ET-1, to regulate vasa vasorum neovascularization occurring in the adventitia of pulmonary arteries in response to chronic hypoxia. Copyright © American Society for Investigative Pathology.
CITATION STYLE
Davie, N. J., Gerasimovskaya, E. V., Hofmeister, S. E., Richman, A. P., Jones, P. L., Reeves, J. T., & Stenmark, K. R. (2006). Pulmonary artery adventitial fibroblasts cooperate with vasa vasorum endothelial cells to regulate vasa vasorum neovascularization: A process mediated by hypoxia and endothelin-1. American Journal of Pathology, 168(6), 1793–1807. https://doi.org/10.2353/ajpath.2006.050754
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