Webinar: Neurovascular Coupling: Novel Insights from Studies in Awake Head-Fixed and Anesthetized Mice by InsideScientific

Neurovascular Coupling: Novel Insights from Studies in Awake Head-Fixed and Anesthetized Mice

About

Neurovascular coupling (NVC) modulates cerebral blood flow to match increased metabolic demand during neuronal excitation. While we know that astrocyte calcium levels rise with excitatory neurotransmission, much less is understood about astrocytic sensitivity to inhibitory neurotransmission. In addition, general anesthetics, widely used in both clinical practice and preclinical research, have been shown to cause large disruptions in cerebral blood flow, brain metabolism, NVC, and functional connectivity. This suggests that they may have direct and indirect effects on the physiology of cerebrovascular endothelial cells (CEC).

In this webinar, Dr. Barbara Lind (Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen) and Dr. Adrián Rodríguez-Contreras (Associate Professor at Northwestern University) try to fill some of our knowledge gaps concerning NVC. Their insights stem from recent two-photon imaging and optogenetics studies performed in awake head-fixed and anesthetized mice. The presentations will elucidate the roles of astrocytes, interneurons, CECs, and calcium signaling in vivo, and specifically the effects of anesthesia on NVC.

Key Topics:

Advantages, limitations, and important considerations for using optical methods to investigate neurovascular physiology in animal models

The effects of general anesthetics on cerebrovascular functions, including the diversity in astrocytic calcium responses to interneuronal activation

Advantages of studying NVC in awake head-fixed mice and the available solutions

Hypotheses that explain cerebrovascular responses to experimental manipulations

Astrocytic responses to parvalbumin interneuron activation and their contribution to GABA-mediated NVC

Presenters

Adrián Rodríguez-Contreras, PhD

Associate Professor

Adrián Rodríguez-Contreras has a broad background in biology with specific training and expertise in neuroscience. He obtained a Biology degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Cincinnati. His main area of research is on developmental plasticity in the context of hearing development with a focus on how neuronal activity and environmental cues shape the development of neurons, glial cells and the cerebral vasculature in the auditory brainstem of neonate rodents. After 14 years at the City University of New York, Dr. Rodríguez-Contreras has recently joined the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the Northwestern University School of Communication where he continues his research to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain injury caused by oxygen shortage and its long-term consequences for auditory function and voice production in rodent models.

Barbara Lykke Lind, PhD

Assistant Professor

After obtaining a BSc in Biology, Dr. Barbara Lind completed her PhD (Fast astrocytic Ca2+ responses in neurovascular coupling, Subcellular astrocytic Ca2+ activity reflects neuronal activation and precedes blood flow responses during somatosensory stimulation in vivo) and MSc (A study of the mechanisms that leads from NMDA excitotoxic stimulation to pronounced lesion formation in mouse cortex) at the University of Copenhagen, and under the supervision of Professor M.D. Gitte Moos Knudsen at the University of Copenhagen and Professor M.D. Ph.D. Maiken Nedergaard at the University of Rochester. She is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen, and previously held postdoctoral positions in the laboratories of Professor Ph.D. Andrea Volterra at the University of Lausanne and Professor M.D. Ph.D. Martin Lauritzen at the University of Copenhagen. In recent years she has worked on a project on astrocytic responses and blood flow regulation in the cortex of mice with chronically implanted cranial windows.

First Name*

Last Name*

Email Address*

Organization / Company*

Job Title*

Country / Region*

Main Area of Research*

If you have a question ahead of the webinar, please ask it here