Vascular regeneration is a challenging topic in tissue repair. As one of the important components of the neurovascular unit (NVU), pericytes play an essential role in the maintenance of the vascular network of the spinal cord. To date, subtypes of pericytes have been identified by various markers, namely the PDGFR-β, Desmin, CD146, and NG2, each of which is involved with spinal cord injury (SCI) repair. In addition, pericytes may act as a stem cell source that is important for bone development and regeneration, whilst specific subtypes of pericyte could facilitate bone fracture and defect repair. One of the major challenges of pericyte biology is to determine the specific markers that would clearly distinguish the different subtypes of pericytes, and to develop efficient approaches to isolate and propagate pericytes. In this review, we discuss the biology and roles of pericytes, their markers for identification, and cell differentiation capacity with a focus on the potential application in the treatment of SCI and bone diseases in orthopedics.

血管再生是组织修复中的一个具有挑战性的课题。作为神经血管单元（neurovascular unit，NVU）的重要组成部分之一，周细胞在维持脊髓血管网络中发挥着至关重要的作用。迄今为止，周细胞亚型已通过各种标记物进行鉴定，即 PDGFR-β、结蛋白、CD146 和 NG2，每一种都与脊髓损伤 (SCI) 修复有关。此外，周细胞可以作为对骨骼发育和再生很重要的干细胞来源，而特定的周细胞亚型可以促进骨折和缺损修复。周细胞生物学的主要挑战之一是确定可以清楚地区分周细胞不同亚型的特定标记，并开发有效的方法来分离和繁殖周细胞。在本次审查中，