Novel mechanism in brain blood flow regulation offers insights into treating stroke and dementia

Originally published by University of Vermont at MedicalXpress on December 9, 2024


                           Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A team of UVM scientists led by Mark Nelson, Ph.D., from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, has uncovered a novel mechanism that reshapes our understanding of how blood flow is regulated in the brain. The study, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences introduces Electro-Calcium (E-Ca) Coupling, a process that integrates electrical and calcium signaling in brain capillaries to ensure precise blood flow delivery to active neurons.

In the human body, blood is delivered into the brain from surface arteries through penetrating arterioles, or very small blood vessels that branch off from arteries, and hundreds of miles of capillaries, which enormously extend the territory of perfusion.

The brain—a highly metabolically demanding organ that lacks substantial energy reserves—maintains constant blood flow in the face of blood pressure fluctuations (autoregulation) but relies on an on-demand delivery process in which neuronal activity triggers a local increase in blood flow to selectively distribute oxygen and nutrients to active regions.

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