US Patent 7316926 Immortalized vascular adventital cell line

To provide an immortalized capillary pericyte line which maintains the original function/property of the cell line-deriving tissue, its establishment method, and the screening method for useful substance using the immortalized capillary pericyte line. Cerebral tissue of a transgenic rat carrying the large T antigen gene of SV40 thermo-sensitive mutant line tsA58 is homogenized and the resultant brain capillaries are treated with protease, thus obtained brain capillary cells are subcultured to establish an immortalized cell that expresses SV40 thermo-sensitive large T antigen, PDGF receptor β, and Angiopoietin-1. In addition, the immortalized vascular pericyte line has ability to deposit calcium on matrix by dense culture.