Abstract
Pericytes and perivascular fibroblasts are considered a main source of myofibroblast recruitment in fibrotic kidney disease and currently there is a lack of suitable Cre driver mouse lines to study this cell population in vivo.We generated a novel pericyte‐specific conditional Cre mouse by using the collagen1α1 promoter/enhancer to drive expression of a triple fusion protein consisting of GFP, Cre recombinase and the mutated estrogen receptor ERT2. For validation, we crossed this Coll1α1GCE mouse to several reporter lines and detected genetically labeled cells in the renal tubulointerstitium of tamoxifen‐treated bigenic offspring. In line with a pericyte identity, these cells stained positive for pericyte marker PDGFRβ but not for CD31, F4/80, CD3, αSMA or FSP1/S100A4 in healthy kidneys and displayed a close spatial association with endothelial cells. One submaximal dose of tamoxifen at P7 labeled ~1.5%, three consecutive pulses (P7‐P9) ~26.8% of all PDGFRβ+ pericytes/perivascular fibroblasts. Upon UUO surgery, fate labeled pericytes aquired αSMA positivity reflecting their differentiation into myofibroblasts. This transformation was accompanied by a notable increase in cell size and overall anatomical complexity.In summary, we have created a novel pericyte‐specific conditional Cre driver mouse as a new tool to study the biology of pericytes in health and disease.
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