Abstract

The VEGF pathway is critically required for vasculogenesis, the formation of the primary vascular network. It is also required for angiogenesis resulting in sprouting and pruning of vessels to generate mature arborizing structures. The Notch pathway is essential for arterial-venous specification and the maturation of nascent vessels. We have determined that Tspan18, a member of the Tetraspanin family, is expressed in developing vessels but not mature vasculature in zebrafish and mouse wound healing. Moreover, reduction at Tspan18 level resulted in aberrant vascular patterning, impaired vessel stability, and defective arterial-venous specification. Tspan18 deficiency reduced VEGF, VEGFR2, Notch3, EphrinB2, and increased EphB4, VEGFR3, Semaphorin3, Neuropilin, and PlexinD1 expression. Furthermore, vascular defects of Tspan18 deficiency could be rescued by ectopic expression of VEGFR2 and Notch, but not by knockdown of Semaphorin or Plexin. Functional studies showed that knockdown of Tspan18 led to reduced endothelial cell migration, invasion, and tube formation. Tspan18 has dynamic expression, regulates vascular development and maturation in the embryo with re-expression in adult life in wound healing.