An Ultrastructural Study of Pericytes

Pericytes are vascular satellites present around capillary blood vessels and small venules. They have been observed in almost every tissue of the body and are thought to be related to vascular smooth muscle cells. Morphologically pericytes have great similarity to vascular endothelial cells and also slightly resemble myoepithelial cells.The present study describes the ultrastructural morphology of pericytes in normal breast tissue and in benign tumor of the breast. The study showed that pericytes are ovoid or elongated cells separated from the endothelial cell of the capillary blood vessel by the basement membrane of endothelial cell. The nuclei of pericytes are often very distinctive. Although some are round, oval, or elongated, others show marked irregularity and infolding of the nuclear membrane. The cytoplasm shows mono-or bipolar extension in which the cytoplasmic organelles are located (Fig. 1). These cytoplasmic extensions embrace the capillary blood vessel incompletely. The plasma membrane exhibits multiple areas of focal condensation called hemidesmosomes (Fig. 2, arrow). A variable number of pinocytotic vesicles are frequently seen lining the outer plasma membrane. Normally pericytes are surrounded by a basement membrane which is found more consistently on the outer plasma membrane separating the pericytes from the stromal connective tissue.