Immunoblotting was performed as previously described [44 (link)]. Equal amounts of tissue lysates were used for immunoblotting. Blots were incubated with specific antibodies to BMP-1 and LTBP-1 (Abcam, ab205394 and ab78294), Flag (Sigma-Aldrich, F3165), ALK5 (R&D system, MAB5871), Col3a1 and Fibronectin 1 (Novus Biologicals, NB600 and NBP1–91258). β-Actin (Sigma-Aldrich, A2228) was used as a loading control. Immunofluorescence was performed as previously described in detail [44 (link)]. We used specific antibodies to CD34 (BD Bioscience, 553731 or Abcam, ab54208), Nkx2.1 (Abcam, ab76013) and VE-cadherin (BD biosciences, 562243). The nuclei were stained with 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, Sigma-Aldrich, D9564).