Publication Date:
2014-03-29
Description:
Increases in brain blood flow, evoked by neuronal activity, power neural computation and form the basis of BOLD (blood-oxygen-level-dependent) functional imaging. Whether blood flow is controlled solely by arteriole smooth muscle, or also by capillary pericytes, is controversial. We demonstrate that neuronal activity and the neurotransmitter glutamate evoke the release of messengers that dilate capillaries by actively relaxing pericytes. Dilation is mediated by prostaglandin E2, but requires nitric oxide release to suppress vasoconstricting 20-HETE synthesis. In vivo, when sensory input increases blood flow, capillaries dilate before arterioles and are estimated to produce 84% of the blood flow increase. In pathology, ischaemia evokes capillary constriction by pericytes. We show that this is followed by pericyte death in rigor, which may irreversibly constrict capillaries and damage the blood-brain barrier. Thus, pericytes are major regulators of cerebral blood flow and initiators of functional imaging signals. Prevention of pericyte constriction and death may reduce the long-lasting blood flow decrease that damages neurons after stroke.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3976267/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉 〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3976267/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hall, Catherine N -- Reynell, Clare -- Gesslein, Bodil -- Hamilton, Nicola B -- Mishra, Anusha -- Sutherland, Brad A -- O'Farrell, Fergus M -- Buchan, Alastair M -- Lauritzen, Martin -- Attwell, David -- 075232/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- G0500495/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2014 Apr 3;508(7494):55-60. doi: 10.1038/nature13165. Epub 2014 Mar 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK [2]. ; 1] Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology and Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark [2]. ; Acute Stroke Programme, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. ; Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. ; 1] Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology and Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark [2] Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Glostrup University Hospital, DK-2600 Glostrup, Denmark.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24670647" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Arterioles/physiology
;
Blood-Brain Barrier/pathology/physiopathology
;
Brain Ischemia/pathology
;
Capillaries/*cytology/drug effects
;
Cell Death
;
Cerebellum/blood supply
;
Cerebral Cortex/blood supply/cytology
;
Cerebrovascular Circulation/drug effects/*physiology
;
Dinoprostone/metabolism
;
Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists/pharmacology
;
Female
;
Functional Neuroimaging
;
Glutamic Acid/pharmacology
;
Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic Acids/biosynthesis
;
In Vitro Techniques
;
Male
;
Mice
;
Mice, Inbred C57BL
;
Nitric Oxide/metabolism
;
Pericytes/cytology/drug effects/pathology/*physiology
;
Rats
;
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
;
Rats, Wistar
;
Receptors, Glutamate/metabolism
;
Signal Transduction/drug effects
;
Stroke/pathology
;
Vasoconstriction
;
Vasodilation/drug effects
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
