Collège de France, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB)/Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique CNRS, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7241/Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale INSERM, U1050/Neuroglial Interactions in Cerebral Physiopathology, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France.
University Pierre et Marie Curie, ED, N°158, 75005, Paris, France.
Brain Struct Funct. 2018 Mar;223(2):1017-1024. doi: 10.1007/s00429-017-1562-4. Epub 2017 Nov 16.
Pericytes are mural cells of blood microvessels which play a crucial role at the neurovascular interface of the central nervous system. They are involved in the regulation of blood-brain barrier integrity, angiogenesis, clearance of toxic metabolites, capillary hemodynamic responses, and neuroinflammation, and they demonstrate stem cell activity. Morphological and molecular studies to characterize brain pericytes recently pointed out some heterogeneity in pericyte population. Nevertheless, a clear definition of pericyte subtypes is still lacking. Here, we demonstrate that a fraction of brain pericytes express Connexin 30 (Cx30), a gap junction protein, which, in the brain parenchyma, was thought to be exclusively found in astrocytes. Cx30 could thus be a candidate protein in the composition of the gap junction channels already described between endothelial cells and pericytes. It could also form hemichannels or acts in a channel-independent manner to regulate pericyte morphology, as already observed in astrocytes. Altogether, our results suggest that Cx30 defines a novel brain pericyte subtype.
周细胞是血液微血管的壁细胞，在中枢神经系统的神经血管界面发挥着关键作用。它们参与血脑屏障完整性的调节、血管生成、有毒代谢物的清除、毛细血管血液动力学反应和神经炎症，并且具有干细胞活性。最近，为了描述脑周细胞，对其进行形态学和分子研究，指出周细胞群体存在一定的异质性。然而，周细胞亚型的明确定义仍然缺乏。在这里，我们证明了一部分脑周细胞表达连接蛋白 30（Cx30），一种间隙连接蛋白，在脑实质中，它被认为只存在于星形胶质细胞中。因此，Cx30 可能是已经描述的内皮细胞和周细胞之间间隙连接通道组成的候选蛋白。它也可以形成半通道，或者以非通道依赖的方式发挥作用，以调节周细胞的形态，正如在星形胶质细胞中观察到的那样。总的来说，我们的结果表明 Cx30 定义了一个新的脑周细胞亚型。
