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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

A High Output Method to Isolate Cerebral Pericytes from Mouse
Published on: January 14, 2020
Diverse functions of pericytes in cerebral blood flow regulation and ischemia
Francisco Fernández-Klett1, Josef Priller2
1Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry, Department of Neuropsychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Pericytes are mural cells with contractile properties. Here, we provide evidence that microvascular pericytes modulate cerebral blood flow in response to neuronal activity ('functional hyperemia'). Besides their role in neurovascular coupling, pericytes are responsive to brain damage. Cerebral ischemia is associated with constrictions and death of capillary pericytes, followed by fibrotic reorganization of the ischemic tissue. The data suggest that precapillary arterioles and capillaries are major sites of hemodynamic regulation in the brain.
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