Project description:In the study we show that a specific peripheral glial population, derived from boundary cap (BC) cells, constitutes a major source of mural cells for the developing vasculature. Using Cre-based reporter cell tracing and single cell transcriptomics, we show that BC cell derivatives migrate along the nerves and differentiate into pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells in the skin. The switch from glial to mural molecular identity is initiated while the cells are still associated with nerves To further characterize this transition glial to vascular identity, we performed single cell transcriptomic analyses (scRNA-seq) on FACS-purified traced cells from dissociated E12.5 skin. Tomato-positive cells were isolated by FACS from embryonic skin at E12.5. Around 10,000 cells were loaded into one channel of the Chromium system using the V3 single cell reagent kit (10X Genomics) We analyzed 2527 single cell transcriptomes with a mean number of expressed genes per cell of 4,696. This study highlights the plasticity of BC derivatives and uncovers a novel, nerve-derived origin for skin mural cells.
Project description:In addition to their roles in protecting nerves and increasing conduction velocity, peripheral glia plays key functions in blood vessel development by secreting molecules governing arteries alignment and maturation with nerves. Here, we show in mice that a specific, nerve-attached cell population, derived from boundary caps (BCs), constitutes a major source of mural cells for the developing skin vasculature. Using Cre-based reporter cell tracing and single-cell transcriptomics, we show that BC derivatives migrate into the skin along the nerves, detach from them, and differentiate into pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells. Genetic ablation of this population affects the organization of the skin vascular network. Our results reveal the heterogeneity and extended potential of the BC population in mice, which gives rise to mural cells, in addition to previously described neurons, Schwann cells, and melanocytes. Finally, our results suggest that mural specification of BC derivatives takes place before their migration along nerves to the mouse skin.
Project description:Mural cells are essential to the proper function of microvasculatures. However, the feasible cell source for mural cells has not been found, which is one of the key obstacles facedin tissue engineering. Our data show that circulating fibrocytes (CFs) sheathed and stabilized the microvasculatures formed by vascular endothelial cells (VECs) in collagen gel, formed gap junctions with VECs, and induced formation of basement membrane. When transplanted into nude mice with VECs either in collagen gel or Matrigel, CFs sheathed the microvasculatures formed by VECs, induced basal membrane formation and the microvasculatures connected to the host circulation. Human brain pericytes (HBPCs) had similar function to CFs, but HBPCs often mosaic into the lumen of capillary-like structures, actively proliferate, and have lower capacity of endocytosis and migration. Based on these data, we concluded thatCFs can be used as the cell source for mural cells to generate tissue-engineered microvasculatures
Project description:To investigate celltype and function of hemangioma mural cells We then performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from RNA-seq of hemangioma mural cells and hemangioma stem cells.
Project description:mRNa encoding for XtMyoD was overexpressed in animal caps and the transcriptional profile of uninjected and injected animal caps was compared.
Project description:Purpose: Pericytes, the mural cells of blood microvessels, have come into focus as regulators of microvascular development and function, but due to paucity of defining markers, the identification and functional characterization of PC remain problematic, and reported data are often controversial. Here, we used a new approach for the isolation of mural cell from mouse brain in combination with RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and previously published vascular transcriptome data to assemble a state-of-the-art catalogue of brain mural cell-enriched gene transcripts. Methods: We isolated double positive cells from the brain of Pdgfrb-eGFP/NG2-DsRed transgenic mice using FACS. Cells were lysed, RNA extracted and sequenced with next-generation sequencing (NGS). For comparison, we also determined the transcriptome of brain microvascular fragments (containing both endothelial cells and mural cells) isolated by mechanical tissue disintegration, collagenase digestion and immune-panning using anti-CD31 antibodies coupled to magnetic beads. The reads were aligned to the Ensembl mouse gene assembly (NCBIM37) using Tophat2 software (version 2.0.4). The duplicated reads were removed using the picard tool (version 1.92). To identify the genes significantly enriched in the pericyte samples as compared with microvascular samples, statistical tests were performed using the Cufflinks tool (version 2.2.1) Results: The result showed that mRNA transcripts representing 856 different genes were enriched more than two-fold in FACS isolated Pdgfrb-eGFP/NG2-DsRed double positive cells compared with whole microvascular fragments (False Discovery Rate < 0.05) The RNA from three FACS sorted brain mural cell samples and three whole brain microvascular samples isolated from three animals were processed and sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform in the sequencing facility in Uppsala University.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Xenopus laevis embryos and ectoderm (animal caps) comparing embryos injected with control morpholino with embryos injected with the morpholino mixture PVD2, which knocks down all three Xenopus PouV proteins. Whole embryos (WE) or animal caps (AC) were collected at late blastula (9) or early gastrula (10) stages from Control and PVD2 morphants. Two conditions: Control vs. PouV morpholino; Two tissues: whole embryos, animal caps .Two timepoints: stage 9 and 10. Biological replicates: 2 control replicates at stage 9 and 10 for whole embryos, 2 control replicates at stage 9 and 10 for animal caps, 2 PVD2 morpholino replicates at stage 9 and 10 for whole embryos, 2 control replicates at stage 9 and 10 for animal caps