O sistema vascular de monocotiledôneas, incluindo Commelinaceae, tem sido estudado desde o sec. 17, sendo uma das maiores dificuldades em estudar esse sistema a grande quantidade de feixes vasculares e a complexidade de suas conexões, especialmente nas espécies que possuem plexo vascular nodal. As variações no sistema vascular não se restringem à relação caule/folha, uma vez que as raízes também podem apresentar certo grau de complexidade. Neste trabalho buscamos entender e apresentar uma arquitetura vascular em Commelinaceae baseado na reconstrução direta de análises tridimensionais dos sistemas caulinar e radicular. Para isto, foram analisadas amostras de caule (20 espécies) e raiz tuberosa (7 espécies) da família Commelinaceae, a partir de representantes das duas tribos de Commelinoideae (Commelineae e Tradescantieae). O rastreamento do sistema vascular no ápice caulinar mostrou que os feixes vasculares caulinares (em fase procambial) começam a ser distinguidos no 4º fitômero, a partir do ápice caulinar. A atividade meristemática do periciclo e o incremento foliar foram os principais fatores de espessamento primário do caule. A partir de análises tridimensionais complementares, como microscopia confocal, microtomografia computadorizada,vetorização gráfica e diafanização whole mount foram construídos modelos tridimensionais da arquitetura vascular em Commelinaceae. Nestes modelos foi possível verificar uma categoria de feixes ainda não relatada para Commelinaceae e que os feixes periféricos não são interrompidos ou terminam cegamente na periferia da medula. Três padrões de plexo vascular nodal são propostos, nos quais todos os feixes vasculares se conectam por meio de traqueídes. Para raiz tuberosa, dados morfométricos foram obtidos com auxílio do software ImageJ e vetorização gráfica foi utilizada para rastreamento do sistema vascular. Os resultados mostram quatro variações anatômicas do cilindro vascular e a quantificação morfométrica das características responsáveis por estas variações / The vascular system of monocotyledons, including Commelinaceae, has been studied since 17 th century, and one of the greatest difficulties in studying these systems is the great number of vascular bundles and the complexity of their connections, especially the species that have vascular nodal plexus. The variations in the vascular system are not restricted to the stem-leaf relation, since the roots can also present some degree of complexity. In this work we seek to understand and present a vascular architecture for Commelinaceae based on the direct reconstruction of 3D analyzes of shoot and root systems. Samples of stem (20 species) and tuberous root (7 species) of the Commelinaceae were analyzed including two tribes of Commelinoideae (Commelineae e Tradescantieae). The tracing of the vascular system in the shoot apex showed that the vascular bundles (in the procambial phase) begin to be distinguished in the 4th phytomer, from the apex. The meristematic activity of the pericycle (in the procambial phase) and the leaf increment were the main factors of primary stem thickening. From complementary 3D analyzes, such as confocal microscopy, computer microtomography, graphic vectorization and whole mount diaphanization, three-dimensional models of the vascular architecture were constructed from Commelinaceae. In these models it was possible to verify a category of bundles not yet reported for Commelinaceae and that the peripheral bundles are not interrupted or end blindly in the periphery of the vascular cylinder. Three patterns of nodal vascular plexus are proposed, in which all vascular bundles are connected by means of tracheids. For tuberous root, morphometric data were obtained by the aid of ImageJ software and graphic vectorization was used to trace the vascular system. The results show four anatomical variations of the vascular cylinder and the morphometric quantification of the characteristics responsible for these variations

Perivascular cells of microvascular niches are the prime candidates for being a reservoire of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-like cells in many tissues and organs that could serve as a potential source of cells and a target of novel cell-based therapeutic approaches. In the present study, by utilising typical markers of pericytes (neuronal-glial antigen 2, NG2, a chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan) and those of MSCs (CD146 and CD105) and primitive pluripotent cells (sex-determining region Y-box 2, Sox2), the phenotypic traits and the distribution of murine and rat retinal perivascular cells were investigated in situ. Our findings indicate that retinal microvessels of juvenile rodents are highly covered by NG2-positive branching processes of pericytic (perivascular) cells that are less prominent in mature capillary networks of the adult retina. In the adult rodent retinal vascular bed, NG2 labeling is mainly confined to membranes of the cell body resulting in a pearl-chain-like distribution along the vessels. Retinal pericytes, which were identified by their morphology and NG2 expression, simultaneously express CD146. Furthermore, CD146-positive cells located at small arteriole-tocapillary branching points appear more intensely stained than elsewhere. Evidence for a differential expression of the two markers around capillaries that would hint at a clonal heterogeneity among pericytic cells, however, is lacking. In contrast, the expression of CD105 is exclusively restricted to vascular endothelial cells and Sox2 is detected neither in perivascular nor in endothelial cells. In dissociated retinal cultures, however, simultaneous expression of NG2 and CD105 was observed. Collectively, our data indicate that vascular wall resident retinal pericytes share some phenotypic features (i.e. CD146 expression) with archetypal MSCs, which is even more striking in dissociated retinal cultures (i.e. CD105 expression). These findings might have implications for the treatment of retinal pathologies.