Harnessing the stem cell properties of pericytes to repair the brain

[...]pericytes have been described as a precursor to mesenchymal stem cells. [...]even resident pericytes on blood vessels can exhibit phagocytosis, as they are able to clear aggregated amyloid beta through an low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-1-mediated mechanism (Ma et al., 2018). [...]pericytes can help prevent the build-up of waste and debris in the brain. [...]strategies must be developed to enable exogenously administered pericytes to readily enter the brain and exert any reparative effects if they are going to be a viable therapeutic option. The heterogeneity of pericytes and inconsistent results with cellular markers has meant that researchers could be labeling these as different cell types when they may in fact be the same. [...]to move forward as a field, we must determine what is specifically meant