ABSTRACT
Perlecan's developmental functions are difficult to dissect in placental animals because perlecan disruption is embryonic lethal. In contrast to mammals, cardiovascular function is not essential for early zebrafish development because the embryos obtain adequate oxygen by diffusion. In this study, we use targeted protein depletion coupled with protein-based rescue experiments to investigate the involvement of perlecan and its C-terminal domain V/endorepellin in zebrafish development. The perlecan morphants show a severe myopathy characterized by abnormal actin filament orientation and disorganized sarcomeres, suggesting an involvement of perlecan in myopathies. In the perlecan morphants, primary intersegmental vessel sprouts, which develop through angiogenesis, fail to extend and show reduced protrusive activity. Live videomicroscopy confirms the abnormal swimming pattern caused by the myopathy and anomalous head and trunk vessel circulation. The phenotype is partially rescued by microinjection of human perlecan or endorepellin. These findings indicate that perlecan is essential for the integrity of somitic muscle and developmental angiogenesis and that endorepellin mediates most of these biological activities.
Subject(s)
Blood Vessels/embryology , Fetal Heart/physiology , Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans/genetics , Muscle, Skeletal/embryology , Oligonucleotides, Antisense/pharmacology , Animals , Blood Vessels/drug effects , DNA Primers , Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects , Embryo, Nonmammalian/physiology , Fetal Heart/drug effects , Muscle, Skeletal/blood supply , Muscle, Skeletal/drug effects , Neovascularization, Physiologic/drug effects , Zebrafish/embryologyABSTRACT
Endorepellin, a C-terminal fragment of the vascular basement membrane proteoglycan perlecan, inhibits angiogenesis via the alpha2beta1-integrin receptor. Because this integrin is also implicated in platelet-collagen responses and because endorepellin or its fragments are generated in response to injury and inflammation, we hypothesized that endorepellin could also affect platelet biology. We discovered that endorepellin supported alpha2beta1-dependent platelet adhesion, without appreciably activating or aggregating platelets. Notably, endorepellin enhanced collagen-evoked responses in platelets, in a src kinase-dependent fashion, and enhanced the collagen-inhibitory effect of an alpha2beta1-integrin function-blocking antibody. Collectively, these results suggest that endorepellin/alpha2beta1-integrin interaction and effects are specific and dependent on cell type, differ from those emanated by exposure to collagen, and may be due to cellular differences in alpha2beta1-integrin activation/ligand affinity state. These studies also suggest a heretofore unrecognized role for angiostatic basement membrane fragments in platelet biology.
