Focus on cardiac pericytes

Abstract

The wall of myocardial terminal vessels, consisting of a continuous endothelial tube with an adventitial coat of pericytes in their extracellular matrix, constitutes a remarkably tight barrier to solute transport between the blood and the parenchyma. This constructional principle of precapillary arterioles, capillaries and postcapillary venules extends both up- and downstream into the arterial and venous limbs, where the original microvessel tube widens and becomes the innermost layer-the intima-of all the larger coronary vessels. In the myocardium's smallest functional units and in the intima of the coronaries, the pericytes play key roles by virtue of both their central histological localization and their physiological functions. Recognition and integration of these properties has led to new pathogenetic models for diverse heart diseases and suggests that current therapeutic concepts need to be revised.

Myocardial Telocyte-Like Cells: A Review Including New Evidence

“…Some of the markers considered useful for the detection of TCs (e.g., vimentin, PDGFRα, and PDGFRβ) are also expressed in pericytes (Table 2) [Witmer et al, 2004;Nees et al, 2013;van Dijk et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2016;Xavier et al, 2017], which are cardiac-resident cells. CD34 and vimentin are commonly expressed in ECs.…”

“…The pericytes are the second most common cell type found in the heart, although they have aroused relatively little interest in the basic cardiovascular literature [Nees et al, 2013]. It should be noted that outspread strands of cardiac pericytes assume the role of specialized endothelial tip cells [Nees et al, 2013], which usually guide angiogenic sprouts [Stanescu et al, 2012;Rusu et al, 2013].…”

“…It should be noted that outspread strands of cardiac pericytes assume the role of specialized endothelial tip cells [Nees et al, 2013], which usually guide angiogenic sprouts [Stanescu et al, 2012;Rusu et al, 2013]. Moreover, pericytes support the microvascular structures in vivo, and they are capable of forming capillary-like networks with or without ECs in three-dimensional co-cultures .…”

Heart Regeneration with Engineered Myocardial Tissue

“…At the tissue level, the coronary circulation and cardiac fibroblasts follow the orientation of the cardiomyocytes, and the ratio and position of these components create a unique geometry that has been called a cardiovascular unit (CVU) (8, 9). The precise arrangement of these structures is shown in Figure 1, in which a changing fiber orientation through the thickness of the left ventricular wall displays cardiomyocytes, vasculature, and fibroblasts in longitudinal (Figure 1 b,e ) and cross-sectional (Figure 1 c,f ) views.…”

“…The precise arrangement of these structures is shown in Figure 1, in which a changing fiber orientation through the thickness of the left ventricular wall displays cardiomyocytes, vasculature, and fibroblasts in longitudinal (Figure 1 b,e ) and cross-sectional (Figure 1 c,f ) views. Each cardiomyocyte is surrounded by 3–4 capillaries (10), which have a single layer of endothelial cells (ECs) stabilized by pericytes that share a common basement membrane (9, 11). Cardiac fibroblasts lie between cardiomyocytes, and larger coronary vessels provide blood flow to the CVU and are surrounded by vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and other perivascular cells.…”