Neurovascular coupling and CO₂ interrogate distinct vascular regulations.

ABSTRACT: Neurovascular coupling (NVC), which mediates rapid increases in cerebral blood flow in response to neuronal activation, is commonly used to map brain activation or dysfunction. Here we tested the reemerging hypothesis that CO₂ generated by neuronal metabolism contributes to NVC. We combined functional ultrasound and two-photon imaging in the mouse barrel cortex to specifically examine the onsets of local changes in vessel diameter, blood flow dynamics, vascular/perivascular/intracellular pH, and intracellular calcium signals along the vascular arbor in response to a short and strong CO₂ challenge (10 s, 20%) and whisker stimulation. We report that the brief hypercapnia reversibly acidifies all cells of the arteriole wall and the periarteriolar space 3-4 s prior to the

SUBMITTER: Tournissac M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11369082 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature