Astrocyte regulation of cerebral vascular tone

Astrocyte regulation of cerebral vascular tone.

Cerebral blood flow is controlled by two crucial processes, cerebral autoregulation (CA) and neurovascular coupling (NVC) or functional hyperemia. Whereas CA ensures constant blood flow over a wide range of systemic pressures, NVC ensures rapid spatial and temporal increases in cerebral blood flow in response to neuronal activation. The focus of this review is to discuss the cellular mechanisms...

Role of potassium channels in regulation of cerebral vascular tone.

Several types of potassium (K+) channels are present in cerebral blood vessels. Opening or closure of these ion channels may have significant effects on membrane po­ tential, which is a major determinant of entry of extra­ cellular calcium and thus vascular tone, Because of the ionic properties of the cell membrane at rest, the change in activity of only a few K+ channels is sufficient to chang...

Endothelial regulation of vascular tone.

Running head: NEURON-ASTROCYTE SIGNALING AND VASCULAR TONE

Introduction.

Tone-dependent vascular responses to astrocyte-derived signals.

A growing number of studies support an important contribution of astrocytes to neurovascular coupling, i.e., the phenomenon by which variations in neuronal activity trigger localized changes in blood flow that serve to match the metabolic demands of neurons. However, since both constriction and dilations have been observed in brain parenchymal arterioles upon astrocyte stimulation, the specific...