User:Mistamoneill/Pericyte

Our project is on Pericytes. For our Proposal, Mike will be working on the introduction and morphology. Christopher will be working on Function. Jenny will be working on Clinical Significance. Stephanie will be working on Recent Studies.

Definition
Pericytes are connective tissue cells (also known as "Rouget," "mural," and "vascular smoothe muscle cells") that play an important role in microvessel support and endothelium proliferation.

Structure and Components
Pericytes have a basement membrane shared with endothelial cells. This membrane contains invagenated "peg and socket" junctions rich in tight and gap junctions. Pericytes also express different markers depending on the location and function of the cell that can help to identify the pericyte.

Blood Brain Barrier
The Blood Brain Barrier is a group of vascular endothelia cells in the central nervous system that restricts ion and molecules from moving between the brain and the blood. It has been found that pericytes, along with endothelial cells, play an important role in the prenatal formation of this barrier.

Angiogenesis
When blood cell formation occurs, endothelia tubes form the initial vessels and are later remodeled by pericytes. These cells cause the original vessel to mature and stabilize and can also differentiate into several mesenchymal cell types such as fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells and osteoblasts.

Antiapoptosis of Endothelial Cells
Pericytes are shown to release the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-w to promote the survival of vascular endothelia cells in the presence of cytotoxins.

Hypertension
Pericytes and their smooth muscle components may play a role in hypertension.

Hemangiopericytoma
A rare and possibly malignant vascular tumor, this soft-tissue sarcoma is caused by the abnormal growth of pericytes.

Diabetic retinopathy
This disease involves damage to the eye's retina, and we will explore pericytes' role in its development.

Alzheimer's Disease
Pericytes may play a role in this disease, as they can be found in excess in the blood vessels of the brain for afflicted patients.

Multiple Sclerosis
An autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system.

Pericytes and Kidney Fibrosis
Pericytes play a pivotal role in fibrosis of kidney cell.

Endothelial and Pericyte Interactions
Abnormal interactions between the endothelial cells and the pericytes are connected to human pathology.

Scarring
Subtypes of pericytes provide a major contribution to the core of glial scars after injury to the central nervous system