Pericyte migration and proliferation are tightly synchronized to endothelial cell sprouting dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Pericytes are critical for microvascular stability and maintenance, among other important physiological functions, yet their involvement in vessel formation processes remains poorly understood. To gain insight into pericyte behaviors during vascular remodeling, we developed two complementary tissue explant models utilizing 'double reporter' animals with fluorescently-labeled pericytes and endothelial cells (via Ng2:DsRed and Flk-1:eGFP genes, respectively). Time-lapse confocal imaging of active vessel remodeling within adult connective tissues and embryonic skin revealed a subset of pericytes detaching and migrating away from the vessel wall. Vessel-associated pericytes displayed rapid filopodial sampling near sprouting endothelial cells that emerged from parent vessels to form nascent bra

SUBMITTER: Payne LB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7919101 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature