Capillary pericytes regulate cerebral blood flow in health and disease

Catherine N. Hall, Clare Reynell, Bodil Gesslein, Nicola B. Hamilton, Anusha Mishra, Brad A. Sutherland, Fergus M. O’Farrell, Alastair M. Buchan, Martin Lauritzen () and David Attwell ()
Additional contact information
Catherine N. Hall: Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
Clare Reynell: Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
Bodil Gesslein: University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
Nicola B. Hamilton: Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
Anusha Mishra: Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
Brad A. Sutherland: Acute Stroke Programme, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
Fergus M. O’Farrell: Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
Alastair M. Buchan: Acute Stroke Programme, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
Martin Lauritzen: University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
David Attwell: Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

Nature, 2014, vol. 508, issue 7494, 55-60

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13165 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:508:y:2014:i:7494:d:10.1038_nature13165

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature13165

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().