Pericytes Images

 

Pericytes (green) are contractile cells that wrap around the endothelial cells of capillaries in order to regulate blood flow.

 

The insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) protein mediates communication between pericytes and neurons, leading to processes such as neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) pathogenesis.

 

In these mouse models, we have control (+/+) mice and pericyte-deficient (F7/F7) mice. The white bars indicate thickness of the corpus callosum (CC). The white stars indicate myelin basic protein (MBP) loss and SMI-312 (neuritic marker) loss.

 

Control Lrp1lox/lox mice express LRP1 in pericytes on brain capillaries, while Lrp1lox/lox ;Crepg4-Cre mice do not show LRP1 expression due to LRP1 deletion from pericytes. The asterisks show LRP1 immunostaining in pericytes, and the arrow shows absence of LRP1 immunoreactivity.

 

A comparison of wild-type pericyte-deficient platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β (APPsw/0 ;Pdgfrβ+/-) mice with APPsw/0 ;Pdgfrβ+/+ mice shows that brain Aβ levels rise due to pericyte loss, as indicated by the difference in the amount of methoxy-X04-positive amyloid (green).