Extracellular
adenosine has been widely implicated in adaptive responses to
hypoxia. The generation of extracellular
adenosine involves phosphohydrolysis of
adenine nucleotide intermediates, and is regulated by the terminal enzymatic step catalyzed by
ecto-5'-nucleotidase (CD73). Guided by previous work indicating that
hypoxia-induced vascular leakage is, at least in part, controlled by
adenosine, we generated mice with a targeted disruption of the third coding exon of Cd73 to test the hypothesis that CD73-generated extracellular
adenosine functions in an innate protective pathway for
hypoxia-induced vascular leakage. Cd73(-/-) mice bred and gained weight normally, and appeared to have an intact immune system. However, vascular leakage was significantly increased in multiple organs, and after subjection to normobaric
hypoxia (8% O(2)), Cd73(-/-) mice manifested fulminant vascular leakage, particularly prevalent in the lung. Histological examination of lungs from hypoxic Cd73(-/-) mice revealed perivascular interstitial
edema associated with inflammatory infiltrates surrounding larger pulmonary vessels. Vascular leakage secondary to
hypoxia was reversed in part by
adenosine receptor agonists or reconstitution with soluble
5'-nucleotidase. Together, our studies identify CD73 as a critical mediator of vascular leakage in vivo.