A simple method to fluorescently label pericytes in the CNS and skeletal muscle

Pericytes play important roles in vascular control and may form an important part of the blood brain barrier. Here we introduce a simple method for fluorescently labelling pericytes to enable further studies in live or fixed tissue of rats and mice. Following intraperitoneal injection, the fluorescent tracer Fluorogold was rapidly taken up into vascular endothelial cells, and within 3h in the central nervous system appeared within small perivascular cells with a morphology consistent with pericytes. These Fluorogold labelled cells were pericytes since they displayed immunoreactivity for platelet derived growth factor receptor β and were closely associated with isolectin B4 binding to endothelial cells. Pericytes in skeletal muscle were also labelled with this method, but not those within the heart, lungs or kidney. This simple method could therefore be applied for labelling pericytes in a wide variety of studies, including live cell imaging or immunohistochemistry.