Endothelial cells and mural cells (smooth muscle cells, pericytes, or fibroblasts) are known to communicate with one another. Their interactions not only serve to support fully functional blood vessels but also can regulate vessel assembly and differentiation or maturation. In an effort to better understand the molecular components of this heterotypic interaction, we used a 3D model of angiogen...

Mural cells of the vascular system include vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and pericytes whose role is to stabilize and/or provide contractility to blood vessels. One of the earliest markers of mural cell development in vertebrates is α smooth muscle actin (acta2; αsma), which is expressed by pericytes and SMCs. In vivo models of vascular mural cell development in zebrafish are currently la...

The integrity of the endothelial barrier between circulating blood and tissue is important for blood vessel function and, ultimately, for organ homeostasis. Here, we developed a vessel-on-a-chip with perfused endothelialized channels lined with human bone marrow stromal cells, which adopt a mural cell-like phenotype that recapitulates barrier function of the vasculature. In this model, barrier ...

Mural nodules of ovarian mucinous borderline tumors are rare. In this study, we report a case of mural nodules of clear cell carcinoma in an intestinal type mucinous borderline tumor of the ovary. The patient was a 54-years-old woman presented with back and pelvic pain for 3 months. A right-sided multiloculated ovarian mass approximately 20 cm was identified on the CT scan. CA-125 was moderatel...

A 52-year-old man had longstanding hypertension and asymemtric septal hypertrophy and normal major coronary arteries. His acute anterior wall ischemia gave rise to transient Q waves and septoapical dyskinesia, complicated by mural thrombus formation. Follow-up revealed a gradual and complete recovery of echocardiographic left ventricular function with total disappearance of mural thrombi and of...

Background:  Hashimotochr('39')s thyroiditis can be present with a localized palpable nodule though presentation as a hyperfunction "nodule" is extremely rare.  The first case of Hashimotochr('39')s thyroiditis and hot nodule was reported in 1971 by warner. Case Presentation: We reported a 26-year-old hypothyroid woman in Hashimotochr('39')s thyroiditis background with a hyperactive thyroid no...

OBJECTIVES The management of mural thrombus complicating acute anterior myocardial infarction remains controversial in part because of the small size of studies on this topic. We performed a meta-analysis of published studies to address three questions: 1) What is the embolic risk of mural thrombi after myocardial infarction? 2) What is the impact of systemic anticoagulation in reducing the emb...

OBJECTIVE Perivascular mural cells of the choroid have been implicated in physiological functioning as well as in retinal disease pathogenesis. However details regarding their form and function are not well understood. We aim to characterize choroidal mural cells in the adult mouse choroid in terms of their distribution and morphology, and correlate these to their contractile behavior. METHOD...

Recent studies have implicated the Tie2 tyrosine-kinase receptor and its main ligands--angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2)--as crucial regulators of mural cell recruitment during angiogenesis. Angiopoietin-mediated activation of Tie2 promotes perivascular mural cell assembly, but the mechanisms regulating this process are poorly understood because differentiated mural cells do not...

Introduction: The purposes were to clarify the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of malignant ovarian lesions arising from endometriomas, and to compare the lesions’ histopathology and MRI characteristics. Materials and Methods: Between May 2004 and December 2012, 140 patients, all of whom were diagnosed as having an endometrioma by using MR imaging, underwent surgery. We compared the M...