Chronic pericyte deficiency

Chronic pericyte deficiency - Platelet-derived growth factor receptor β mutant mice, PdgfrbF7/F7 (F7/F7), were generated by point mutations that disrupt the following residues and designated signal transduction pathways; residue 578 (Src), residue 715 (Grb2), residues 739 and 750 (PI3K), residue 770 (RasGAP), residue 1008 (SHP-2), by changing the tyrosine to phenylalanine, and residue 1020 (PLCγ), where tyrosine was mutated to isoleucine (Tallquist et al, PLoS Biol 2003). F7/F7 mice were maintained on a 129S1/SvlmJ background and were shown to express PDGFRβ in the brain exclusively in perivascular mural cells including pericytes, and not in neurons, astrocytes or endothelial cells (Bell et al, Neuron 2010; Winkler et al, Mol Neurodegener 2010).