Differential analysis of neural crest and mesodermally derived VSMC in the aorta. Mus musculus

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are derived from distinct embryonic origins. Vessels originating from differing smooth muscle cell populations have distinct vascular and pathological properties of calcification, atherosclerosis, and structural defects such as aneurysm and coarctation. We hypothesized that domains within a vessel vary in phenotype based on embryonic origin. We used microarrays to detail the expression differences in vasculature of different embryonic origin. Overall design: Mouse tissues were selected from different vascular compartments for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We sought to identify embryonic origin-specific expression profiles.