DRG vasculature has dual identity. (A) Reclustering of published scRNA-seq data of 432 DRG endothelial cells from mouse (Avraham et al., 2020), displaying clusters with artery, capillary, and vein identity. (B) Differential gene expression between artery and vein clusters using Venice algorithm. (C)Cldn5 (artery; A) and Plvap (vein; V) expression across clusters. Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. ***P < 0.001. (D) Photomicrograph of undissected L5 DRG from unperfused mouse illustrating blood-filled vasculature. Scale bar, 200 μm. (E) Whole-mount imaging and iDISCO tissue clearing of CD31 and ACTA2 stained lumbar DRG. 3D reconstruction and vessel segment identification using Imaris. Scale bar, 200 and 20 μm (inset). (F) Identification of vessel segments in ultrathin DRG sections by TEM, based on their anatomical localization. Scale bar, 50 μm. (G) Immunolocalization of CLDN5 and PLVAP expression to CD31⁺ DRG endothelial cells, displaying minimal overlap. Arrows indicate PLVAP/CLDN5 breakpoints. Scale bar, 100 μm. (H and I) (H) CLDN5-GFP (Cldn5^GFP/+ mice) and (I) PLVAP expression in DRG vessel segments, normalized to % of max. n = 3 mice. Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. Scale bar, 20 μm. C, capillary. (J) Reclustering snRNA-seq data of 777 endothelial nuclei from human DRGs from five donors (Avraham et al., 2022) and the expression of CLDN5 and PLVAP across artery, capillary, and vein clusters. Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. ***P < 0.001. (K) Immunostaining of CLDN5 and PLVAP in human DRG sections. Scale bars, 100 μm.