Minkyung Kang

All Publications

• Screening and Identification of Brain Pericyte-Selective Markers CNS NEUROSCIENCE & THERAPEUTICS Kang, M., Nasrollahi, A., Cheng, F., Yao, Y. 2025; 31 (2): e70247

  Abstract

  Pericytes, a type of mural cells, exert important functions in the CNS. One major challenge in pericyte research is the lack of pericyte-specific and subpopulation-specific markers.To address this knowledge gap, we first generated a novel transgenic mouse line in which vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) are permanently labeled with tdTomato. Next, we isolated PDGFRβ+tdTomato- pericytes and PDGFRβ+tdTomato+ vSMCs from the brains of these mice and subsequently performed RNAseq analysis to identify pericyte-enriched genes.Using this approach, we successfully identified 40 pericyte-enriched genes and 158 vSMC-enriched genes, which are involved in different biological processes and molecular functions. Using ISH/IHC analysis, we found that Pla1a and Cox4i2 were predominantly enriched in subpopulations of brain pericytes, although they also marked some non-vascular parenchymal cells.These findings suggest that Pla1a and Cox4i2 preferably label subpopulations of pericytes in the brain compared to vSMCs, and thus, they may be useful in distinguishing these populations.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/cns.70247

  View details for Web of Science ID 001414097600001

  View details for PubMedID 39912338

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11799917