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Glial and neuronal control of brain blood flow

Nature volume 468, pages 232–243 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Blood flow in the brain is regulated by neurons and astrocytes. Knowledge of how these cells control blood flow is crucial for understanding how neural computation is powered, for interpreting functional imaging scans of brains, and for developing treatments for neurological disorders. It is now recognized that neurotransmitter-mediated signalling has a key role in regulating cerebral blood flow, that much of this control is mediated by astrocytes, that oxygen modulates blood flow regulation, and that blood flow may be controlled by capillaries as well as by arterioles. These conceptual shifts in our understanding of cerebral blood flow control have important implications for the development of new therapeutic approaches.

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Figure 1: Energy supply, usage and blood flow regulation in the brain.
Figure 2: Major pathways by which glutamate regulates cerebral blood flow.
Figure 3: Arachidonic acid metabolites that may contribute to control of cerebral blood flow.
Figure 4: Nitric oxide inhibits the production of key arachidonic acid-derived messengers.
Figure 5: Oxygen differentially affects the synthesis of neurovascular messengers.
Figure 6: Lactate and adenosine affect neurovascular signalling at low [O2].

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Acknowledgements

We apologize to those whose work we have not cited because of space constraints. We thank the following for useful discussion: K. Caesar, A. Gjedde, C. Hall, A. Mishra, G. Rees and A. Roth. Work in our laboratories is supported by the Fondation Leducq, the European Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the UK Medical Research Council, the Dunhill Medical Trust, the Biomedical Research Centres of the UK National Institute for Health Research, the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme, the Human Frontier Science Program, the Danish Medical Research Council, the Lundbeck Foundation, the Nordea Foundation Centre for Healthy Aging, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience, and the US National Institutes of Health (National Eye Institute).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    David Attwell

  2. Nuffield Department of Medicine, Acute Stroke Programme, University of Oxford, Level 7, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

    Alastair M. Buchan

  3. INSERM U603; CNRS UMR 8154; Laboratory of Neurophysiology and New Microscopies, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, 75006, France

    Serge Charpak

  4. Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Institute for Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen & Glostrup Hospital, Glostrup, DK-2600, Denmark

    Martin Lauritzen

  5. Brain Research Center & Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, 2211 Westbrook Mall, Vancouver, V6T 2B5, British Columbia, Canada

    Brian A. MacVicar

  6. Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 6-145 Jackson Hall, 321 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, 55455, Minnesota, USA

    Eric A. Newman

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Attwell, D., Buchan, A., Charpak, S. et al. Glial and neuronal control of brain blood flow. Nature 468, 232–243 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09613

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