Abstract
Fibronectin performs essential roles in embryonic development and is prominently expressed during tissue repair. Two forms of fibronectin have been identified: plasma fibronectin (pFn), which is expressed by hepatocytes and secreted in soluble form into plasma; and cellular fibronectin (cFn), an insoluble form expressed locally by fibroblasts and other cell types and deposited and assembled into the extracellular matrix. To investigate the role of pFn in vivo, we generated pFn-deficient adult mice using Cre-loxP conditional gene-knockout technology. Here we show that pFn-deficient mice show increased neuronal apoptosis and larger infarction areas following transient focal cerebral ischemia. However, pFn is dispensable for skin-wound healing and hemostasis.
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Acknowledgements
We thank W. Müller for providing Mx-Cre mice; J.F. Talts and K. Sekiguchi for mouse fibronectin cDNA; D.F. Mosher for human plasma fibronectin; E. Georges-Labouesse for antibody; and R. Timpl for discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. The work was supported by The Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation (to T.S.), National Institute of Health grant CA47056 (to H.P.E), the Swedish Medical Research Council (K98-12X-12531-01A, to R.F.) and the SSF-Inflammation Program (to R.F.).
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Sakai, T., Johnson, K., Murozono, M. et al. Plasma fibronectin supports neuronal survival and reduces brain injury following transient focal cerebral ischemia but is not essential for skin-wound healing and hemostasis.. Nat Med 7, 324–330 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/85471
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/85471
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