Advanced imaging of intact brains during ischemic stroke reveals a new role for pericytes

(Medical University of South Carolina) Pericytes are the primary locus of matrix-mellaproteinase-9-dependent (MMP-9) capillary damage and blood leakage during ischemia, report Medical University of South Carolina investigators in The Journal of Neuroscience. Two-photon microscopy of the intact brains of live mice revealed MMP-9 activity and plasma leakage disproportionately occurred at locations where pericyte somata were attached to the endothelium. These results strongly suggest that pericytes...