Analyses of the pericyte transcriptome in ischemic skeletal muscles

Abstract Background Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) affects millions of people and compromises quality life. Critical limb ischemia (CLI), which is the most advanced stage PAD, can cause nonhealing ulcers strong chronic pain, it shortens patients’ life expectancy. Cell-based angiogenic therapies are becoming a real therapeutic approach to treat CLI. Pericytes cells that surround vascular endothelial reinforce vessel integrity regulate local blood pressure metabolism. In past decade, researchers also found pericytes may function as stem or progenitor in body, showing potential differentiate into several cell types. We investigated gene expression profiles during early stages ischemia, well alterations pericyte subpopulations better understand behavior under ischemic conditions. Methods this study, we used hindlimb model mimic CLI C57/BL6 mice explore role regeneration. To end, muscle were isolated at different time points after induction ischemia. The phenotypes transcriptomic these discrete assessed using flow cytometry RNA sequencing. Results Ischemia triggered proliferation migration upregulated myogenesis-related transcripts pericytes. Furthermore, analysis revealed induce upregulate number cytokines with effects on cells, leukocyte chemoattraction, activation inflammatory cells. Conclusions Our findings provide database will improve our understanding skeletal biology conditions, be useful for development novel pericyte-based therapies.