Extreme hydrops fetalis and cardiovascular abnormalities in mice lacking a functional Adrenomedullin gene

摘要

Adrenomedullin. a recently identified potent vasodilator, is ex- pressed widely and has been suggested to have functions ranging from reproduction to blood pressure regulation. To elucidate these functions and define more precisely sites of Adm expression, we replaced the coding region of the Adm gene in mice with a sequence encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein while leaving the Adm promoter intact. We find that Adm~-/- embryos die at midgestation with extreme hydrops fetalis and cardiovas- cular abnormalities, including overdeveloped ventricular trabecu- lae and underdeveloped arterial walls. These data suggest that genetically determined absence of Adm may be one cause of nonimmune hydrops fetalis in humans.