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Abstract
Pericytes, spatially isolated contractile cells on capillaries, have been reported to control cerebral blood flow physiolo-
gically, and to limit blood flow after ischaemia by constricting capillaries and then dying. Paradoxically, a recent paper
dismisses the idea of pericytes controlling cerebral blood flow, despite confirming earlier data showing a role for
pericytes. We show that these discrepancies are apparent rather than real, and depend on the new paper defining
pericytes differently from previous reports. An objective definition of different sub-classes of pericyte along the capillary
bed is needed to develop novel therapeutic approaches for stroke and disorders caused by pericyte malfunction.
Keywords
Pericyte, capillary, cerebral blood flow, bloodbrain barrier, stroke
Received 13 August 2015; Revised 9 September 2015; Accepted 10 September 2015
around capillaries, with more circumferential processes at (if it is not blocked pharmacologically5,7) to restrict
the arteriole end of the capillary bed, more longitudinal microvascular reperfusion when a thrombus in a culprit
processes in the middle of the capillary bed, and a stellate upstream artery has been removed, which will contribute
morphology at the venule end of the capillaries1316 (see to the no-reow phenomenon after stroke. In addition,
Figure 1, taken from Hartmann et al.14). Pericytes were death of pericytes is expected to result in the loss of their
rst named by Zimmermann13 in 1923 (translated into maintenance of the bloodbrain barrier.2325 Together,
English by Krueger and Bechmann17). Zimmermann these pericyte malfunctions will promote neuronal death,
stated explicitly that he included all of these dierent which makes dening dierent subtypes of pericyte all
morphology cells in the denition of pericytes, as fol- the more important for the generation of therapies tar-
lows13,17: I will henceforth call these cells pericytes geting these cells.
including their transitional forms to smooth muscle bres.
This denition of pericyte, embracing their dierent
Definition drift
subtypes, has been used extensively in the subsequent lit-
erature examining the ultrastructure and function of peri- The denition of pericytes given above implies that the
cytes. It has long been recognised that pericytes vary, not vascular bed within the brain parenchyma can be
only in their morphology, but also in their protein expres- divided as follows:
sion, with the pericytes that give out more circumferential
processes also expressing more smooth muscle a-actin (i) arterioles, wrapped by a continuous layer of
(a-SMA), when assessed either with antibody labelling18 smooth muscle;
or with expression of reporter dyes under control of the (ii) capillaries, with pericytes of various morphologies
a-SMA promoter.8 Nevertheless, a signicant number of on their surface; and
mid-capillary pericytes do also express a-SMA.19 (iii) venules, also with pericytes on them.
Figure 1. Schematic (reproduced from Hartmann et al.14 with permission) showing the diversity of pericyte forms, based on imaging
of the brain microvasculature in mice expressing fluorescent proteins under control of the NG2 and PDGFRb promoters.
Attwell et al. 3
of spatially isolated NG2-expressing pericytes on capil- neuronal activity or spreading depression, they con-
laries (Figure 2b). However, Hill et al.8 used an uncon- cluded that the dilations were produced by relaxations
ventional nomenclature for the cells on the capillary of smooth muscle cells rather than pericytes (see also ref.
walls. They asserted that the cells on capillaries near 26).8 This was inevitable: if all contractile pericytes are
the arteriole end of the capillary bed (arrowheads in re-dened to be smooth muscle cells, it has to be the case
Figure 2b), which express more a-SMA and have that the dilations are produced by smooth muscle cells
more circumferential processes running around the and not pericytes. Nevertheless, the cells producing the
capillaries, have a morphology more similar to dilations in the study of Hill et al.8 and in earlier work3,4
smooth muscle cells (i.e. as in Figure 2a) than to the are identical. Indeed, when examining the branching
(visually almost identical) cells on capillaries further order of capillaries, with branch order 0 being the pene-
from the arteriole, which have fewer circumferential trating arteriole, 1 being the rst capillary (sometimes
processes (arrows in Figure 2b). This is surprising termed a pre-capillary arteriole) coming o that, and
because smooth muscle cells have an inconspicuous so on, Hill et al.8 found that their a-SMA reporter was
soma and extend broad processes (as much as 7 mm expressed in pericytes down to at least the second order
wide) that wrap around arterioles, whereas pericytes capillary in nearly 60% of cases, and in higher branch
have isolated highly visible somata with a bump-on-a- order capillaries in 30% of cases (see Figure 4K of
log morphology and much thinner processes (2 mm or their paper which shows a-SMA labelling on spatially
less in diameter14) extending around and along the separated pericytes along capillaries). This is consistent
capillaries. Because of this supposed similarity of with pericyte-mediated capillary dilations occurring in
morphology to smooth muscle cells, despite their obvi- response to neuronal activity in vivo out to at least the
ous dierences in appearance, Hill et al.8 dened the fourth branching order, as reported earlier.4
NG2- and a-SMA-expressing (contractile) cells at the Hill et al.8 found that constriction of spatially iso-
arteriole end of the capillary bed to be smooth muscle lated cells on capillaries blocked the capillaries during
cells, rather than pericytes, as they would have been MCAO, and that this block was often prolonged. This
named under the original Zimmermann denition.13,17 is entirely consistent with previous work,4,5 with con-
This means that when, in subsequent experiments, tractile pericytes on capillaries being responsible: the
they examined capillary diameter changes occurring sole dierence is that Hill et al.8 dene these cells,
during spontaneous vasomotion, optogenetic activation, unconventionally, to be smooth muscle cells.
Figure 2. (a) NG2-expressing cells on arteriole (smooth muscle cells) and venule from Hill et al.8 (b) NG2-expressing cells on the
microvasculature from Hill et al8: arteriole end of the capillary bed is at the left; venule end is at the right. Arrows denote pericytes.
Arrow heads denote cells which Hill et al.8 defines to be smooth muscle cells similar to those in panel a, but which we (and
Zimmermann13) would define to be pericytes, like the cells labelled with arrows. (Both panels reproduced from Hill et al.8 with
permission; green channel enhanced for clarity).
4 Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism
The need for a definition of different 2. quantify the dierences in protein expression and
function of dierent pericyte sub-types;
sub-classes of pericyte 3. invent suitable nomenclature for the dierent peri-
Why does this dierence of cell name matter? We cyte subtypes.
believe it matters because targeting pericyte malfunc-
tion oers enormous therapeutic possibilities, but peri- Only when all this is done will it be possible to target
cytes clearly exist in dierent subtypes, suggesting dierent pericyte subtypes (e.g. contractile pericytes30,31
diversity of function. versus those maintaining bloodbrain barrier function)
Pericytes closer to the arteriole end of the capillary to generate novel therapeutic approaches for treating
bed are likely to be preferentially involved in regulating stroke, Alzheimers disease and other disorders in
cerebral blood ow because they express more a-SMA which pericyte malfunction is involved.
and have more circumferential processes. However,
because red blood cells have to deform the walls of Funding
small capillaries to pass through the vessels, even con- This study was supported by grants to DA from the
traction or relaxation of longitudinal processes along Wellcome Trust, European Research Council and MRC
capillaries with no change of baseline diameter could and to TD from the Turkish Academy of Sciences and
aect blood ow, by altering the stiness of the vessel Hacettepe University Research Fund.
wall. As well as altering total blood ow, contraction
and relaxation of pericytes will alter capillary transit Declaration of conflicting interests
time heterogeneity, which aects nutrient delivery to
The author(s) declared no potential conicts of interest with
the tissue even with constant total blood ow to a respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
region.27 It is the contractile pericytes that constrict article.
capillaries during and after ischaemia,4,5 and thus
these cells that need to be targeted therapeutically to
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