Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28504673›Full record

ArticleNature neuroscience2017

A fluoro-Nissl dye identifies pericytes as distinct vascular mural cells during in vivo brain imaging.

Eyiyemisi C Damisah, Robert A Hill, Lei Tong, Katie N Murray, Jaime Grutzendler

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature neuroscience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
75citing papers in PubMed
5.0field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

75 citing papers in PubMed, 111 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Persistent dysmorphology and dysfunction of the brain microvasculature following repeated trauma.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2026
    Article
  5. Eppur si muove: the dynamic brain pericyte.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2025
    Review
  6. Pericytes in the optic nerve head.Progress in retinal and eye research · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. KProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article

15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Eyiyemisi C DamisahDepartment of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Robert A HillDepartment of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6080-8712
Lei TongDepartment of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Katie N MurrayDepartment of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Jaime GrutzendlerDepartment of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5000-243X
Yale University · US

Funding

Yale Alzheimer Disease Research CenterP50AG047270 · NIA · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI FERGUSON, SHAWN · 2015 to 2019
$8.3M
Postnatal Development of the Neuro-Glio-Vascular UnitR01NS089734 · NINDS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI GRUTZENDLER, JAIME · 2014 to 2018
$1.8M
Vascular Mechanisms of Neuronal Circuit Disruption in DementiaR01AG027855 · NIA · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI GRUTZENDLER, JAIME · 2007 to 2011
$1.3M
In vivo cellular imaging of myelin plasticity and regeneration in cortical gray mR21NS087511 · NINDS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI GRUTZENDLER, JAIME · 2014 to 2015
$458k
The role of astrocytes in myelin maintenance and regenerationR21NS088411 · NINDS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI GRUTZENDLER, JAIME · 2014 to 2015
$458k
Angiophagy a mechanism linking microvascular and Alzheimers pathologiesR21AG048181 · NIA · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI GRUTZENDLER, JAIME · 2014 to 2015
$452k
Cellular mechanisms of cortical myelin plasticity and regeneration in vivoF32NS090820 · NINDS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI HILL, ROBERT · 2014 to 2016
$135k
NIA NIH HHS P50 AG047270NIA NIH HHS R01 AG027855NIA NIH HHS R21 AG048181NINDS NIH HHS F32 NS090820NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS089734NINDS NIH HHS R21 NS087511NINDS NIH HHS R21 NS088411
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Pericytes and smooth muscle cells are integral components of the brain microvasculature. However, no techniques exist to unambiguously identify these cell types, greatly limiting their investigation in vivo. Here we show that the fluorescent Nissl dye NeuroTrace 500/525 labels brain pericytes with specificity, allowing high-resolution optical imaging in the live mouse. We demonstrate that capillary pericytes are a population of mural cells with distinct morphological, molecular and functional features that do not overlap with precapillary or arteriolar smooth muscle actin-expressing cells. The remarkable specificity for dye uptake suggests that pericytes have molecular transport mechanisms not present in other brain cells. We demonstrate feasibility of longitudinal pericyte imaging during microvascular development and aging and in models of brain ischemia and Alzheimer's disease. The ability to easily label pericytes in any mouse model opens the possibility of a broad range of investigations of mural cells in vascular development, neurovascular coupling and neuropathology.

Indexed as

AgingAlzheimer DiseaseAnimalsBrainBrain IschemiaFemaleFluorescent DyesHistological TechniquesMaleMiceMice, TransgenicMyocytes, Smooth MuscleOptical ImagingPericytesFluorescent Dyes

Identifiers

PMID28504673
PMCPMC5550770
OpenAlexW2615918291

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.