Christian Göritz's Group

We are studying homeostasis and tissue repair mechanisms in the mammalian system with a focus on pericytes, perivascular cells of the microvasculature.

Portrait of Christian Göritz's group
Christian Göritz's group

Commonly, tissue damage triggers a wound closure reaction that can lead to pathological tissue formation, causing functional impairment and blocking regeneration.

We discovered that a specific subpopulation of pericytes participate in the wound closure reaction and following scar formation after spinal cord injury.

Image of pericytes on a branching blood vessel in the adult spinal cord
Type A pericytes (in green) on a branching blood vessel in the adult spinal cord. Pericytes express PDGFRß (red) and are surrounded by astrocyte processes (cyan) with which they form the blood brain barrier. Cell nuclei are labelled blue.

Pericytes are abundant throughout the body and have a great potential to be a general source for scar formation and fibrosis in different injuries and diseases. We are aiming to understand the nature of these cells, their heterogeneity, stem cell potential and functions.

Group members

Selected Publications

Pericyte-derived fibrotic scarring is conserved across diverse central nervous system lesions.
Dias DO, Kalkitsas J, Kelahmetoglu Y, Estrada CP, Tatarishvili J, Holl D, Jansson L, Banitalebi S, Amiry-Moghaddam M, Ernst A, Huttner HB, Kokaia Z, Lindvall O, Brundin L, Frisén J, Göritz C
Nat Commun 2021 Sep;12(1):5501

Astrocyte-derived neurons provide excitatory input to the adult striatal circuitry.
Dorst MC, Díaz-Moreno M, Dias DO, Guimarães EL, Holl D, Kalkitsas J, Silberberg G, Göritz C
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 Aug;118(33):

Glutamate transporter Slc1a3 mediates inter-niche stem cell activation during skin growth.
Reichenbach B, Classon J, Aida T, Tanaka K, Genander M, Göritz C
EMBO J. 2018 05;37(9):

Reducing Pericyte-Derived Scarring Promotes Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury.
Dias DO, Kim H, Holl D, Werne Solnestam B, Lundeberg J, Carlén M, et al
Cell 2018 03;173(1):153-165.e22

Fibrotic scarring following lesions to the central nervous system.
Dias DO, Göritz C
Matrix Biol. 2018 08;68-69():561-570

A latent neurogenic program in astrocytes regulated by Notch signaling in the mouse.
Magnusson JP, Göritz C, Tatarishvili J, Dias DO, Smith EM, Lindvall O, et al
Science 2014 Oct;346(6206):237-41

Resident neural stem cells restrict tissue damage and neuronal loss after spinal cord injury in mice.
Sabelström H, Stenudd M, Réu P, Dias DO, Elfineh M, Zdunek S, et al
Science 2013 Nov;342(6158):637-40

Daniel Holl
30-08-2023