ArticleeLife2018
Capillary pericytes express α-smooth muscle actin, which requires prevention of filamentous-actin depolymerization for detection.
Article in eLife, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 175 papers.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
175 citing papers in PubMed, 274 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cerebral Intramural Cells: A Missing Cellular Link Between Vascular Aging and Alzheimer's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Postresuscitation Cerebral Vasospasm and Capillary Failure After Experimental Asphyxial Cardiac Arrest.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- Review
- Region-specific pericyte Ca2+ transient dynamics and capillary hemodynamics during the sleep-wake cycle.Sleep · 2026Article
- Blood flow patterns in mice are regulated by interpericyte tunneling nanotubes connecting functionally-opposite neuronal areas.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Adalimumab Treatment Modulates Vascular Changes in Hidradenitis Suppurativa Lesions in a Sex-Dependent Manner.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Discovery of Abundant Nano-scale Lymphatic-like Vessels in Brains.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Differential pericyte pathology in the human retina and brain in diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Neurovascular coupling and cerebrovascular reactivity: physiology, lifespan development, pathophysiology, and clinical relevance.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Seeing the Small to Prevent the Big: The Role of Cerebral Microvessels in Ischemic Stroke Etiology and Prevention.Stroke research and treatment · 2026Review
- Article
- Role of capillary rarefaction in age-related changes of external urethral sphincter muscle of female mice.Cell and tissue research · 2025Article
- Characterizing pericytes and the vascular transition zones of the human macula in postmortem eyes.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2025Article
- The regulation of placental pericyte function through transforming growth factor β-1 signalling.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The stem cell within the vessel wall: multipotent pericytes modulating β-cell function and diabetic complications.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Review
- Eppur si muove: the dynamic brain pericyte.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2025Review
- Systemic nimodipine affects pericyte calcium signaling, resting hemodynamics and neurovascular coupling in healthy mouse brain.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Article
- The blood-brain barrier: a help and a hindrance.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Review
- Clickable PEG-norbornene microgels support suspension bioprinting and microvascular assembly.Acta biomaterialia · 2025Article
115 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that capillary pericytes are contractile and play a crucial role in the regulation of microcirculation. However, failure to detect components of the contractile apparatus in capillary pericytes, most notably α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), has questioned these findings. Using strategies that allow rapid filamentous-actin (F-actin) fixation (i.e. snap freeze fixation with methanol at -20°C) or prevent F-actin depolymerization (i.e. with F-actin stabilizing agents), we demonstrate that pericytes on mouse retinal capillaries, including those in intermediate and deeper plexus, express α-SMA. Junctional pericytes were more frequently α-SMA-positive relative to pericytes on linear capillary segments. Intravitreal administration of short interfering RNA (α-SMA-siRNA) suppressed α-SMA expression preferentially in high order branch capillary pericytes, confirming the existence of a smaller pool of α-SMA in distal capillary pericytes that is quickly lost by depolymerization. We conclude that capillary pericytes do express α-SMA, which rapidly depolymerizes during tissue fixation thus evading detection by immunolabeling.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.