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Updated: Jan 20, 2026
Isolation and Purification of Murine Cardiac Pericytes
Published on: August 16, 2019
Isolation and Purification of Murine Cardiac Pericytes
Linda L Lee1, Aarif Y Khakoo2, Vishnu Chintalgattu3
1Department of Cardiometabolic Disorders, Amgen Research and Discovery, Amgen Inc.
Insights
Researchers developed a new protocol to isolate cardiac pericytes from mice. This method enables further study of these vital cells in cardiovascular health and potential therapies.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Biology
- Cell Biology
- Stem Cell Research
Background:
- Pericytes are crucial for microvessel function, including angiogenesis and barrier integrity.
- Cardiac pericyte-specific functions and isolation methods remain poorly understood.
- Existing methods lack accessibility for isolating cardiac pericytes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a reliable protocol for isolating and purifying cardiac pericytes from murine models.
- To enable further investigation into the role of cardiac pericytes in cardiovascular physiology.
- To explore the therapeutic potential of cardiac pericytes.
Main Methods:
- Enzymatic digestion and mechanical dissociation of mouse heart tissue.
- Purification of pericytes using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS).
- Gating strategy: CD31-, CD34-, CD45-, CD140b+, NG2+, CD146+.
Main Results:
- Successfully isolated and purified primary murine cardiac pericytes.
- Purified pericytes maintained morphology and marker expression through multiple passages.
- The protocol provides a consistent source of cardiac pericytes.
Conclusions:
- The developed protocol offers a readily accessible method for obtaining cardiac pericytes.
- This advancement facilitates deeper understanding of cardiac pericyte roles in health and disease.
- The availability of pure cardiac pericytes opens avenues for therapeutic development.
Abstract:
Pericytes, perivascular cells of microvessels and capillaries, are known to play a part in angiogenesis, vessel stabilization, and endothelial barrier integrity. However, their tissue-specific functions in the heart are not well understood. Moreover, there is currently no protocol utilizing readily accessible materials to isolate and purify pericytes of cardiac origin. Our protocol focuses on using the widely used mammalian model, the mouse, as our source of cells. Using the enzymatic digestion and mechanical dissociation of heart tissue, we obtained a crude cell mixture that was further purified by fluorescence activating cell sorting (FACS) by a plethora of markers. Because there is no single unequivocal marker for pericytes, we gated for cells that were CD31-CD34-CD45-CD140b+NG2+CD146+. Following purification, these primary cells were cultured and passaged multiple times without any changes in morphology and marker expression. With the ability to regularly obtain primary murine cardiac pericytes using our protocol, we hope to further understand the role of pericytes in cardiovascular physiology and their therapeutic potential.
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