Fig. 1From: Potential role of astrocyte angiotensin converting enzyme 2 in the neural transmission of COVID-19 and a neuroinflammatory state induced by smoking and vapingUbiquitous expression of ACE2 in cerebral microvascular pericytes. A Schematic elucidation of sectioning plates and main brain regions of a mouse brain. OB: olfactory bulb, SEZ/RC: subependymal zone (SEZ) in the rhinocele, CTX: cerebral cortex, CC: corpus callosum, STR: striatum, LV: lateral ventricle, HP: hippocampus, TH: thalamus, 3 V: third ventricle, HY: hypothalamus, AQ: cerebral aqueduct, MB: midbrain, CB: cerebellum, 4 V: fourth ventricle, MY: medulla oblongata. B Scanning images show ACE2 (green) distribution in the hemisphere sections. C–F ACE2 (red) ubiquitously distributes in the cerebral microvessels labeled by endothelial cell marker CD31 (green) and pericyte marker PDGFRβ (green), respectively. ACE2 overlapped with pericyte marker PDGFRβ (F) but not endothelial cell marker CD31 (D). C and E showed the low magnitude images. D and F showed the enlarged images of the indicated regions in C and E, respectively. G ACE2 (red) does not distribute in large blood vessels marked by CD31 (green) but is detectable in the meninges wrapping HY. DAPI (blue) was used for nuclear staining. *: indicates large blood vessels. #: indicates meninges. Arrowhead: indicates microvessel. Image magnitude B: 10X; C, E and G: 20X; D and F: 100XBack to article page