Zebrafish model challenges understanding of brain’s ‘sentry cells’

NIH researchers have published findings demonstrating that the perivascular cell population that covers blood vessels on the brain surface and contributes to brain protection is derived from endothelial cells, as opposed to immune cells as previously thought. The research, performed in zebrafish, could have implications for a variety of brain disorders. The cell population is formed of fluorescent granular perithelial cells (FGPs), also known as perivascular macrophages (PVMs) or ‘Mato Cells’. The cells are little understood and it remains unclear whether FGPs and PVMs are one and the same. Recent research has suggested these cells play an important role in...