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Primary mouse brain pericytes isolated from transgenic Alzheimer mice spontaneously differentiate into a CD11b+

Bianca Hutter-Schmid1, Christian Humpel1

  • 1Laboratory of Psychiatry and Exp. Alzheimer's Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Experimental Gerontology
|August 13, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Alzheimer's disease pericytes can spontaneously transform into microglial-like cells in vitro. This study reveals a novel potential mechanism for cell differentiation in Alzheimer's disease research.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cell Biology
  • Pathology

Background:

  • Alzheimer's disease (AD) involves amyloid plaques, tau pathology, and vascular issues, including pericyte damage.
  • Pericytes, crucial for the blood-brain barrier, can differentiate into various cell types in vitro, including microglia.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if primary mouse brain pericytes from AD model mice can differentiate into CD11b+ microglia in vitro.
  • To explore spontaneous differentiation in AD pericytes versus induced differentiation in wildtype pericytes.

Main Methods:

  • Isolation and culture of primary pericytes from wildtype and AD (APP_SweDI) transgenic mice.
  • Induction of differentiation in wildtype pericytes using FGF-2, cAMP, and fibronectin.
  • Analysis of cell differentiation markers (CD11b, Iba1, PDGFRβ) and phagocytic activity.

Main Results:

  • Wildtype pericytes differentiated into CD11b+ microglia (Type B, >90%) upon exposure to differentiation factors.
  • AD pericytes spontaneously differentiated into a small percentage of CD11b+ microglia (Type A, <10%) without added factors.
  • AD-derived pericytic microglia showed moderate Iba1 staining and phagocytic activity but remained PDGFRβ positive.

Conclusions:

  • Primary mouse pericytes from AD mice can spontaneously differentiate in vitro into a CD11b+ microglial-like cell type (Type A).
  • This study provides the first evidence of spontaneous pericyte-to-microglia differentiation in an AD context.
  • Further research is needed to determine if these pericytic microglia exhibit full microglial activity.
Keywords:
Alzheimer's diseaseAmyloid-betaCD11b(+)DifferentiationMicrogliaPericytes

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