Cortical Microvascular Pulsatility in the Aging Mouse Brain and the Confounding Effects of Anesthesia.

ABSTRACT: Abnormal cerebrovascular pulsatility is associated with white-matter injury, blood-brain-barrier leakage, and impaired glymphatic clearance, yet its extent in the microvasculature and aging dynamics remained obscured due to experimental and technical limitations. A multi-modal approach for quantifying flow and diameter pulsatility in small cerebral vessels is developed and applied it longitudinally in male C57BL/6JRj mice from 18 to 81 weeks, both in awake and anesthetized conditions. In the awake state, mean perfusion and pulsatility indexes varied by <10%, indicating preserved hemodynamics until late life when arterial diameter pulsatility and venular caliber rose modestly. Anaesthesia radically changes the microvascular dynamics: isoflurane produces age-dependent hyperemia, and both iso

SUBMITTER: Skott MV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12822393 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature