Smad1/5 is acetylated in the dorsal aortae of the mouse embryo before the onset of blood flow, driving early arterial gene expression.

Aims: During embryonic development, arteriovenous (AV) differentiation ensures proper blood vessel formation and maturation. Defects in arterial or venous identity cause inappropriate fusion of vessels, resulting in atypical shunts, so-called AV malformations (AVMs). Currently, the mechanism behind AVM formation remains unclear, and treatment options are fairly limited.

SARS-CoV-2 infection causes prolonged cardiomyocyte swelling and inhibition of HIF1α translocation in an animal model COVID-19.

Recovered COVID-19 patients often display cardiac dysfunction, even after a mild infection. Most current histological results come from patients that are hospitalized and therefore represent more severe outcomes than most COVID-19 patients face. To overcome this limitation, we investigated the cardiac effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a hamster model.

Organ-Specific Endothelial Cell Differentiation and Impact of Microenvironmental Cues on Endothelial Heterogeneity.

Endothelial cells throughout the body are heterogeneous, and this is tightly linked to the specific functions of organs and tissues. Heterogeneity is already determined from development onwards and ranges from arterial/venous specification to microvascular fate determination in organ-specific differentiation. Acknowledging the different phenotypes of endothelial cells and the implications of this diversity is key for the development of more specialized tissue engineering and vascular repair approaches.

Fluid flow as a driver of embryonic morphogenesis.

Fluid flow is a powerful morphogenic force during embryonic development. The physical forces created by flowing fluids can either create morphogen gradients or be translated by mechanosensitive cells into biological changes in gene expression. In this Primer, we describe how fluid flow is created in different systems and highlight the important mechanosensitive signalling pathways involved for sensing and transducing flow during embryogenesis.