Cardiac pericytes

Pericytes are multifunctional contractile cells wrapped around coronary capillaries that are critically important for regulation of the microcirculation. They constrict and dilate capillaries in response to neurotransmitters, vasoactive and metabolism-related molecules. Importantly, after myocardial ischaemia pericytes mediate no-reflow, i.e. a failure to reperfuse capillaries even after the upstream culprit artery is unblocked (O’Farrell, Mastitskaya et al. 2017). Pericytes are also the main cardiac cell type expressing ACE2, the receptor for the virus causing COVID-19. Thus, pericyte dysfunction could be responsible for the deleterious effects of COVID-19 on the heart. I use live tissue imaging, pharmaco- and optogenetic approaches, in vivo models of cardiovascular disease, and various transgenic mouse lines to study how pericytes control coronary capillary blood flow in health and disease. This work will advance our understanding of the physiological control of coronary blood flow, and may offer therapeutic strategies for preventing cardiovascular complications of various conditions, including metabolic disorders, chemotherapy, ischaemia and COVID-19. This project is funded by the British Heart Foundation (Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship FS/IBSRF/21/25060).