Screening and Identification of Brain Pericyte-Selective Markers

Abstract

Background

Pericytes, a type of mural cells, exert important functions in the CNS. One major challenge in pericyte research is the lack of pericyte-specific and subpopulation-specific markers.

Methods

To address this knowledge gap, we first generated a novel transgenic mouse line in which vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) are permanently labeled with tdTomato. Next, we isolated PDGFRβ⁺tdTomato⁻ pericytes and PDGFRβ⁺tdTomato⁺ vSMCs from the brains of these mice and subsequently performed RNAseq analysis to identify pericyte-enriched genes.

Results

Using this approach, we successfully identified 40 pericyte-enriched genes and 158 vSMC-enriched genes, which are involved in different biological processes and molecular functions. Using ISH/IHC analysis, we found that Pla1a and Cox4i2 were predominantly enriched in subpopulations of brain pericytes, although they also marked some non-vascular parenchymal cells.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that Pla1a and Cox4i2 preferably label subpopulations of pericytes in the brain compared to vSMCs, and thus, they may be useful in distinguishing these populations.