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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Sep 29.
Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2022 Sep 29;185(20):3753–3769.e18. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.09.004

Figure 6. Molecular pathways for cell-cell communication between endothelial and mural cells in the prenatal human brain.

Figure 6.

A. Rank order of significant ligand-receptor pairs utilized by the endothelial and mural cells in the cell-cell communication in the second trimester human brain.

B. (Top panels) Chord plots summarizing expression of collagen genes and their receptors by endothelial and mural cells at 15 and 23 GW. (Bottom panels) Violin plots of COL4A1 and ITGA1 in vascular subtypes.

C. Confocal images showing immunostains for COL4A1, ITGA1, and CD31 in the ventricular zone of 23 GW prenatal human brain.

D. (Top panels) Chord plots summarizing expression of midkine and its receptors by endothelial and mural cells at 15 and 23 GW. (Bottom panels) Violin plots of MDK, SDC2, and ITGB1 in vascular subtypes.

E. Confocal images showing immunostains for MDK, ITGB1, and CD31 in the ventricular zone of 23 GW prenatal human brain.

F. Confocal images showing immunostains for MDK, SDC2, and CD31 in the ventricular zone of 23 GW prenatal human brain.

G. 3D Matrigel cultures of endothelial and mural cells in the presence of MDK or iMDK. Images shown at 3 and 6 hours.

H-I. Quantifcation of number of branches in Matrigel cultures at 3, 6, and 12 hours in endothelial or mural cells with MDK or iMDK. Each data point represents the average of 3 wells from a separate biological replicate. Statistics used ANOVA with post-hoc Student’s t-tests to assess differences within groups. Upper asterisk compares between control and MDK; lower asterisk between control and iMDK. Data are mean ± S.E.M.. Non-significant comparisons not shown.