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Updated: Jan 8, 2026
Brain Pericyte Calcium and Hemodynamic Imaging in Transgenic Mice In Vivo
Published on: November 20, 2021
Region-specific pericyte Ca2+ transient dynamics and capillary hemodynamics during the sleep-wake cycle
Yan Wu1, Pengfei Li2, Liu Liu2
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, United States.
Study Objectives:
Brain pericytes play a crucial role in neurovascular coupling, regulating cerebral blood flow in response to changes in local neuronal activity. However, their activities during sleep remain less understood. Our objective is to investigate the dynamic changes in pericyte activity and related hemodynamic changes during the sleep-wake cycle.
Methods:
Using an in vivo calcium imaging tool, we recorded cytosolic calcium transient dynamics from brain pericytes across natural sleep-wake cycles in the prefrontal cortex and lateral hypothalamus of mice expressing the calcium sensor GCaMP6f specifically in pericytes. Using an in vivo vascular imaging tool, capillary diameter and red blood cell velocity dynamic changes in prefrontal cortex and lateral hypothalamus were recorded and calculated across natural sleep-wake cycles.
Results:
Our results show that prefrontal cortex pericytes exhibit low basal calcium transients during non-rapid eye movement sleep and rapid eye movement sleep, while showing synchronous calcium peaks following transitions from sleep to waking. In contrast, lateral hypothalamus pericytes display diverse calcium transient patterns across the sleep-wake cycle, with 81.3%, 15.6%, and 56.3% presenting calcium peaks during non-rapid eye movement sleep, rapid eye movement sleep, and waking, respectively. Hemodynamic recordings in prefrontal cortex demonstrated greater fluctuations in red blood cell velocity during waking compared to non-rapid eye movement sleep, likely associated with periodic pericyte activations during waking. In lateral hypothalamus, average capillary diameter and red blood cell velocity significantly increased during waking compared to non-rapid eye movement sleep, aligning with the predominantly non-rapid eye movement sleep-ON pattern of pericyte calcium transients and frequent capillary stalling observed during non-rapid eye movement sleep.
Conclusions:
Our findings identified the region-specific pericyte activity patterns that may contribute to local cerebral blood flow dynamics during natural sleep-wake cycles, emphasizing their importance in maintaining neurovascular function in different vigilant states.
