Endothelial-pericyte metabolic communication in damage control (B03)

• Subject Area: Anatomy and Physiology ; Cell Biology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456687919

Contact between endothelial and mural cells is crucial for the establishment and maintenance of blood-tissue barriers. This project addresses the concept that endothelial cell-pericyte contact facilitates the transfer of metabolites (in particular lactate) to maintain the cells in a quiescent and differentiated state. This will be addressed experimentally using a combination of metabolomics, proteomics, 13C glucose flux analyses and next generation sequencing under basal conditional and following knockdown of the lactate transporters SLC16A1/3. The consequences of inactivation of the lactate shuttle will be assessed in the heart after myocardial infarction and in the eye after laser induced choroid injury.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1531: Damage control by the stroma-vascular compartment
• Applicant Institution: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Ingrid Fleming, Ph.D.; Dr. Jiong Hu