Bojovic Danica, Stackhouse Teresa L, Mishra Anusha
Oregon Health & Science University, Jungers Center for Neurosciences Research, Department of Neurology, Portland, Oregon, United States.
Oregon Health & Science University, Vollum Institute, Portland, Oregon, United States.
Neurophotonics. 2022 Jul;9(3):031913. doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.9.3.031913. Epub 2022 May 4.
Neurovascular coupling (NVC) is the process that increases cerebral blood flow in response to neuronal activity. NVC is orchestrated by signaling between neurons, glia, and vascular cells. Elucidating the mechanisms underlying NVC at different vascular segments and in different brain regions is imperative for understanding of brain function and mechanisms of dysfunction. : Our goal is to describe a protocol for concurrently monitoring stimulation-evoked neuronal activity and resultant vascular responses in acute brain slices. We describe a step-by-step protocol that allows the study of endogenous NVC mechanisms engaged by neuronal activity in a controlled, reduced preparation. : This NVC assay allows researchers to disentangle the mechanisms regulating the contractile responses of different vascular segments in response to neuronal firing independent of flow and pressure mediated effects from connected vessels. It also enables easy pharmacological manipulations in a simplified, reduced system and can be combined with imaging or broader electrophysiology techniques to obtain multimodal data during NVC. : The NVC assay will facilitate investigations of cellular and molecular mechanisms that give rise to NVC and should serve as a valuable complement to imaging methods.
神经血管耦合（NVC）是一种响应神经元活动而增加脑血流量的过程。NVC由神经元、神经胶质细胞和血管细胞之间的信号传导协调。阐明不同血管段和不同脑区NVC的潜在机制对于理解脑功能和功能障碍机制至关重要。我们的目标是描述一种在急性脑切片中同时监测刺激诱发的神经元活动和由此产生的血管反应的方案。我们描述了一个逐步的方案，该方案允许在可控的、简化的准备中研究由神经元活动引发的内源性NVC机制。这种NVC检测方法使研究人员能够在不受相连血管的流量和压力介导影响的情况下，解析调节不同血管段对神经元放电的收缩反应的机制。它还能在简化的系统中轻松进行药理学操作，并可与成像或更广泛的电生理技术相结合，以在NVC期间获得多模态数据。这种NVC检测方法将有助于研究引发NVC的细胞和分子机制，应成为成像方法的有价值补充。
