Precapillary sphincters and pericytes at first-order capillaries as key regulators for brain capillary perfusion.

ABSTRACT: Rises in local neural activity trigger local increases of cerebral blood flow, which is essential to match local energy demands. However, the specific location of microvascular flow control is incompletely understood. Here, we used two-photon microscopy to observe brain microvasculature in vivo. Small spatial movement of a three-dimensional (3D) vasculature makes it challenging to precisely measure vessel diameter at a single x-y plane. To overcome this problem, we carried out four-dimensional (x-y-z-t) imaging of brain microvessels during exposure to vasoactive molecules in order to constrain the impact of brain movements on the recordings. We demonstrate that rises in synaptic activity, acetylcholine, nitric oxide, cyclic guanosine monophosphate, ATP-sensitive potassium channels, and end

SUBMITTER: Zambach SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8255959 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature