Neurovascular coupling and CO2 interrogate distinct vascular regulations
Year: 2024
Type: article
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 arteriole dilation. During this prolonged lag period, NVC triggered by whisker stimulation is not affected by the acidification of the entire neurovascular unit. As it also persists under condition of continuous inflow of CO2, we conclude that CO2 is not involved in NVC.
Source: Nature Communications
Language: English
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,790
Awards: Transfer functions between neuronal and vascular responses to sensory stimulation in the normal and the pathological brain, 3D mapping of CO2 and pH dynamic in the normal and pathological brain, Understanding the role of the perivascular space in cerebral small vessel disease, G3472424003, G3558213001, G4652114395, G4656594441, G4950536974, G5175988488, Enabling Vision Restoration, G6788229901, TRT-cSVD, G9000212153
OpenAlex ID: W4402125686