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Imaging Pericytes and the Regulation of Cerebral Blood Flow

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Pericytes

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2235))

Abstract

The brain’s high energy requirements drive the need for close coupling of local neuronal activity to blood supply. Capillaries have been shown to dilate before arterioles in response to sensory stimulation, pointing to a key role for microvascular pericytes in mediating cerebrovascular dynamics. However, many aspects of these cells’ function remain unknown and even controversial, from their identification, to the mechanism and regulation of their contractility in physiology and disease. Investigating how pericytes regulate vascular diameter is therefore likely to be the subject of many future experiments. Here we provide protocols for three different techniques (ex vivo slice imaging, in vivo imaging, and immunohistochemistry) that are highly valuable for performing such experiments.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by funding from the Physiological Society, the Royal Society, and the University of Sussex Junior Research Associate scheme. We would like to thank Devin Clarke and Orla Bonnar for comments on the manuscript, David Attwell for providing the NG2/DsRed mice to start our colony, and Leon Lagnado for practical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK

    Katie Boyd & Catherine N. Hall

  2. Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK

    Matthew Hammond-Haley

  3. Centre for Microsystems and Photonics, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

    Rozan Vroman

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  1. Katie Boyd
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  2. Matthew Hammond-Haley
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  3. Rozan Vroman
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  4. Catherine N. Hall
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Catherine N. Hall .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Orthopedic Hospital Research Center and David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, BHF Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Bruno M. Péault

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Boyd, K., Hammond-Haley, M., Vroman, R., Hall, C.N. (2021). Imaging Pericytes and the Regulation of Cerebral Blood Flow. In: Péault, B.M. (eds) Pericytes. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2235. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1056-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1056-5_7

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