Lineage tracing reveals evidence of a popliteal lymphatic muscle progenitor cell that is distinct from skeletal and vascular muscle progenitors

Loss of popliteal lymphatic vessel (PLV) contractions, which is associated with damage to lymphatic muscle cells (LMCs), is a biomarker of disease progression in mice with inflammatory arthritis. Currently, the nature of LMC progenitors has yet to be formally described. Thus, we aimed to characterize the progenitors of PLV-LMCs during murine development, towards rational therapies that target their proliferation, recruitment, and differentiation onto PLVs. Since LMCs have been described as a hybrid phenotype of striated and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), we performed lineage tracing studies in mice to further clarify this enigma by investigating LMC progenitor contribution to PLVs in neonatal mice. PLVs from Cre-tdTomato reporter mice specific for progenitors of skeletal myocytes (Pax7(+) and MyoD(+)) and VSMCs (Prrx1(+) and NG2(+)) were analyzed via whole mount immunofluorescent microscopy. The results showed that PLV-LMCs do not derive from skeletal muscle progenitors. Rather, PLV-LMCs originate from Pax7(−)/MyoD(−)/Prrx1(+)/NG2(+) progenitors similar to VSMCs prior to postnatal day 10 (P10), and from a previously unknown Pax7(−)/MyoD(−)/Prrx1(+)/NG2(−) muscle progenitor pathway during development after P10. Future studies of these LMC progenitors during maintenance and repair of PLVs, along with their function in other lymphatic beds, are warranted.