Generation and Characterization of rgs5 Mutant Mice

Regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) are involved in a wide variety of functions, including olfaction, vision, and cell migration. RGS5 has a perivascular expression pattern and was recently identified as a marker for brain pericytes. This suggests a role for RGS5 in vascular development and pericyte biology. We have created a mouse line which lacks thergs5 gene and replaced it with a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter (rgs5 GFP /GFP ). The mice are viable and fertile and display no obvious developmental defects, and the vasculature appears to develop normally with proper pericyte coverage. Also, no differences were observed in the vasculature under pathological conditions, such as tumor growth and oxygen-induced retinopathy. The GFP expression in pericytes ofrgs5 GFP mice allows detection and sorting of these cells, thereby providing a valuable novel tool for pericyte research.