{"doi":"10.1101/2022.09.27.509698","title":"Pericytes control vascular stability and auditory spiral ganglion neuron survival","abstract":"Abstract The inner ear has a rich population of pericytes, a multi-functional mural cell essential for sensory hair cell heath and normal hearing. However, the mechanics of how pericytes contribute to the homeostasis of the auditory vascular-neuronal complex in the spiral ganglion is not yet known. In this study, using an inducible and conditional pericyte depletion mouse ( Pdgfrb CreERT2+/- ; ROSA26 iDTR+/- ) model, we demonstrate, for the first time, that pericyte depletion causes loss of vascular volume and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) and adversely affects hearing sensitivity. Using an in vitro trans-well co-culture system, we show pericytes markedly promote neurite and vascular branch growth in neonatal SGN explants and adult SGNs. The pericyte-controlled neural growth is strongly mediated by pericyte-released exosomes containing vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A). Treatment of neonatal SGN explants or adult SGNs with pericyte-derived exosomes significantly enhances angiogenesis, SGN survival, and neurite growth, all of which were inhibited by a selective blocker of the VEGF receptor 2 (Flk1). Our study demonstrates that pericytes in the adult ear are critical for vascular stability and SGN health. Cross-talk between pericytes and SGNs via exosomes is essential for neuronal and vascular health and normal hearing.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2022,"id":299503,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9533,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":369581,"name":"Lingling Neng","orcid":"0000-0002-8495-253X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":989339,"name":"Kushal Sharma","orcid":"0000-0001-6554-0479","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":369580,"name":"Zhiqiang Hou","orcid":"0000-0002-5154-7474","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":989879,"name":"Anatasiya Johnson","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":556970,"name":"Junha Song","orcid":"0000-0003-2015-1749","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":989340,"name":"Alain Dabdoub","orcid":"0000-0002-4259-2425","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":369586,"name":"Xiaorui Shi","orcid":"0000-0002-6068-1413","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":369585,"name":"Yunpei Zhang","orcid":"0000-0002-5254-796X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":69,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:31:44.904250Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}