The pericyte: an important cell type for central nervous system diseases

Pericytes are contractile cells that wrap around the endothelial cells of capillaries throughout the body. They play an important role in regulating the blood brain barrier (BBB) and blood spinal cord barrier (BSCB). Our research group is committed to find out the characteristics of pericytes, which directly impact pathophysiological processes in CNSD. We recently reported that the pericytes from brain microvascular and spinal cord microvascular possessed the distinguishable abilities of tube-formation and migration, which provide a better understanding of pericytes in CNS. The awareness of regional microvascular pericytes heterogeneity in CNS obliges consideration that brain and spinal cord microvascular networks might differ in their barrier properties or other capacities. In vivo, our research indicated that pericytes might promote angiogenesis in spinal cord injury C57BL/6 mice. Melatonin ameliorated the loss of blood vessels and disruption of BSCB to exert a protective effect on SCI, which might be mediated by increased pericyte coverage. The upregulation of angiopoietin-1 in pericytes could inhibit inflammation and apoptosis to protect the microvessels. Generally speaking, melatonin could stabilize microvascular barrier function and microcirculation of SCI, whose mechanism was to promote the repair of the damaged BSCB.