Dongdong Zhang, Jiayu Ruan, Shiyu Peng, Jinze Li, Xu Hu, Yiyi Zhang, Tianrui Zhang, Yaping Ge, Zhu Zhu, Xian Xiao, Yunxu Zhu, Xuzhao Li, Tingbo Li, Lili Zhou, Qingzhu Gao, Guoxiao Zheng, Bingrui Zhao, Xiangqing Li, Yanming Zhu, Jinsong Wu, Wensheng Li, Jingwei Zhao, Woo-Ping Ge, Tian Xu, Jie-Min Jia
Neurovascular coupling (NVC) is important for brain function and its dysfunction underlies many neuropathologies. Although cell-type specificity has been implicated in NVC, how active neural information is conveyed to the targeted arterioles in the brain remains poorly understood. Here, using two-photon focal optogenetics in the mouse cerebral cortex, we demonstrate that single glutamatergic axons dilate their innervating arterioles via synaptic-like transmission between neural-arteriolar smooth muscle cell junctions (NsMJs)...
January 2, 2024: Nature Neuroscience