🗺️We mapped #MuralCells — including #pericytes and #smoothmuscle — as vectors➡️ to visualize where #PrimaryCilia🌟 occur across the 🐁🧠 #microvasculature.
The result? A striking pattern: #cilia are abundant on #capillaries and #venules, but almost absent on #arterioles.
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(d) Percent distribution of primary cilia in MCs after microvascular stratification into pial and parenchymal vessels, including 1-3rd order capillaries from the MICrONS (mouse visual cortex), CA1 (mouse hippocampus), and h01 (human cortex) datasets. Note that neither CA1 nor h01 contain any pial vessels. (e) Lengths of MC primary cilia in pial and parenchymal vessels, including 1-3rd order capillaries MCs from MICrONS.

📊 #Pericytes are frequently ciliated in both 🐁 and 🚶‍♀️🧠—but mostly near #venules and venous-end #capillaries.
Venular mural cells: up to 90% ciliated in 🐁 datasets!
Arteriolar mural cells: almost none.
Why this gradient? Flow, pressure, permeability?
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By recording #cortical #angiograms during i.v. injection of FITC-dextran 🟢 in #adult and #old #NG2DsRed mice, we time-colored the #arterioles 🔴 and #venules 🔵. We found that #OldMice have less #collaterals and more #tortuous #PenetratingArterioles.