Immortalized CNS pericytes are quiescent smooth muscle actin-negative and pluripotent.

Despite their identification more than 100 years ago by the French scientist Charles-Marie Benjamin Rouget, microvascular pericytes have proven difficult to functionally characterize, due in part to their relatively low numbers and the lack of specific cell markers. However, recent progress is beginning to shed light on the diverse biological functions of these cells. Pericytes are thought to be involved in regulating vascular homeostasis and hemostasis as well as serving as a local source of adult stem cells. To further define the properties of these intriguing cells, we have isolated pericytes from transgenic mice (Immortomouse®) harboring a temperature-sensitive mutant of the SV40 virus target T-gene. This Immortopericyte (IMP) conditional cell line is stable for long periods of time and, at 33°C in the presence of interferon gamma, does not differentiate. Under these conditions IMPs are alpha muscle actin-negative and exhibit a pluripotent phenotype, but can be induced to differentiate along both mesenchymal and neuronal lineages at 37°C. Alternatively, differentiation of wild type pericytes and IMPs can be induced directly from capillaries in culture. Finally, the addition of endothelial cells to purified IMP cultures augments their rate of self-renewal and differentiation, possibly in a cell-to-cell contact dependent manner.