BVES and generation of coronary vessels

心脏发育涉及不同类型细胞的产生和相互作用，以形成一个功能器官。心肌细胞、心内膜、成纤维细胞、心外膜、血管内皮细胞和平滑肌是构成心脏的主要细胞类型。心外膜前器官是其中许多细胞的来源。它是一种暂时性的胚胎结构，其后代形成了心外膜和心内动脉，包括冠状动脉。因此，了解心外膜前器官及其后代的作用对于了解心脏发育是至关重要的。我们已经分离出一种新的蛋白BVES，它在大多数(如果不是)心外膜前器官、迁移的心外膜、分离的自由迁移间质和冠状动脉血管平滑肌细胞中表达。此外，随着细胞系的分化，BVES的亚细胞定位发生了戏剧性的变化。我们目前的数据表明，BVES是一种蛋白质，可能在冠状动脉血管发育过程中发挥细胞黏附作用。我们的目标是确定BVES是否是一个完整的膜(AIM)，确定在体外和器官发生过程中调节BVES功能的结构域(AIM 2)，并确定BVES功能的丧失如何潜在地改变形态发生(AIM 3)。总之，这些目标将决定BVES的功能(S)，它在冠状动脉生成中的作用，以及对冠状动脉生物学的基本见解。

Heart development involves the generation and interaction of diverse cell types to form a functional organ. Myocytes, endocardium, fibroblasts, epicardium, vascular endothelium and smooth muscle are the primary cell types that comprise the heart. The pro-epicardial organ is the source of many of these cells. It is a transitory embryonic structure whose progeny form, amongst other structures, the epicardium and intracardiac arteries including the coronary arteries.. Thus, an understanding of the role of the pro-epicardial organ and its progeny is essential for an understanding of heart development. We have isolated novel protein, Bves, that is expressed in most, if not cells of the pro-epicardial organ, migrating epicardial, delaminated freely migratory mesenchyme and coronary vascular smooth muscle cells. In addition, the subcellular localization of Bves undergoes a dramatic change with differentiation of this cell lineage. Our current data suggests that Bves is a protein that may play a role in cell adhesion during coronary vessel development. Our aims are to determine whether Bves is an integrated membrane (Aim ), to identify domains that regulate Bves function in vitro and during organogenesis (Aim 2) and to determine how loss of Bves function potentially alters morphogenesis (Aim 3). Taken together these aims will determine the function(s) of Bves, its role in the generation of coronary vessels and basic insight into coronary vessel biology.