Modeling of Blood Flow Dynamics in Rat Somatosensory Cortex
<b>Background:</b> The cerebral microvasculature forms a dense network of interconnected blood vessels where flow is modulated partly by astrocytes. Increased neuronal activity stimulates astrocytes to release vasoactive substances at the endfeet, altering the diameters of connected vess...
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2024-12-01
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| author | Stéphanie Battini Nicola Cantarutti Christos Kotsalos Yann Roussel Alessandro Cattabiani Alexis Arnaudon Cyrille Favreau Stefano Antonel Henry Markram Daniel Keller |
| author_facet | Stéphanie Battini Nicola Cantarutti Christos Kotsalos Yann Roussel Alessandro Cattabiani Alexis Arnaudon Cyrille Favreau Stefano Antonel Henry Markram Daniel Keller |
| author_sort | Stéphanie Battini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <b>Background:</b> The cerebral microvasculature forms a dense network of interconnected blood vessels where flow is modulated partly by astrocytes. Increased neuronal activity stimulates astrocytes to release vasoactive substances at the endfeet, altering the diameters of connected vessels. <b>Methods:</b> Our study simulated the coupling between blood flow variations and vessel diameter changes driven by astrocytic activity in the rat somatosensory cortex. We developed a framework with three key components: coupling between the vasculature and synthesized astrocytic morphologies, a fluid dynamics model to compute flow in each vascular segment, and a stochastic process replicating the effect of astrocytic endfeet on vessel radii. <b>Results:</b> The model was validated against experimental flow values from the literature across cortical depths. We found that local vasodilation from astrocyte activity increased blood flow, especially in capillaries, exhibiting a layer-specific response in deeper cortical layers. Additionally, the highest blood flow variability occurred in capillaries, emphasizing their role in cerebral perfusion regulation. We discovered that astrocytic activity impacted blood flow dynamics in a localized, clustered manner, with most vascular segments influenced by two to three neighboring endfeet. <b>Conclusions:</b> These insights enhance our understanding of neurovascular coupling and guide future research on blood flow-related diseases. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2227-9059 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Biomedicines |
| spelling | doaj-art-d962cc695f404a6381e337caebb1d9d52025-01-24T13:23:55ZengMDPI AGBiomedicines2227-90592024-12-011317210.3390/biomedicines13010072Modeling of Blood Flow Dynamics in Rat Somatosensory CortexStéphanie Battini0Nicola Cantarutti1Christos Kotsalos2Yann Roussel3Alessandro Cattabiani4Alexis Arnaudon5Cyrille Favreau6Stefano Antonel7Henry Markram8Daniel Keller9Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland<b>Background:</b> The cerebral microvasculature forms a dense network of interconnected blood vessels where flow is modulated partly by astrocytes. Increased neuronal activity stimulates astrocytes to release vasoactive substances at the endfeet, altering the diameters of connected vessels. <b>Methods:</b> Our study simulated the coupling between blood flow variations and vessel diameter changes driven by astrocytic activity in the rat somatosensory cortex. We developed a framework with three key components: coupling between the vasculature and synthesized astrocytic morphologies, a fluid dynamics model to compute flow in each vascular segment, and a stochastic process replicating the effect of astrocytic endfeet on vessel radii. <b>Results:</b> The model was validated against experimental flow values from the literature across cortical depths. We found that local vasodilation from astrocyte activity increased blood flow, especially in capillaries, exhibiting a layer-specific response in deeper cortical layers. Additionally, the highest blood flow variability occurred in capillaries, emphasizing their role in cerebral perfusion regulation. We discovered that astrocytic activity impacted blood flow dynamics in a localized, clustered manner, with most vascular segments influenced by two to three neighboring endfeet. <b>Conclusions:</b> These insights enhance our understanding of neurovascular coupling and guide future research on blood flow-related diseases.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/13/1/72blood flowastrocytic endfootvasodilationneuro-glia-vasculaturesimulation |
| spellingShingle | Stéphanie Battini Nicola Cantarutti Christos Kotsalos Yann Roussel Alessandro Cattabiani Alexis Arnaudon Cyrille Favreau Stefano Antonel Henry Markram Daniel Keller Modeling of Blood Flow Dynamics in Rat Somatosensory Cortex Biomedicines blood flow astrocytic endfoot vasodilation neuro-glia-vasculature simulation |
| title | Modeling of Blood Flow Dynamics in Rat Somatosensory Cortex |
| title_full | Modeling of Blood Flow Dynamics in Rat Somatosensory Cortex |
| title_fullStr | Modeling of Blood Flow Dynamics in Rat Somatosensory Cortex |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modeling of Blood Flow Dynamics in Rat Somatosensory Cortex |
| title_short | Modeling of Blood Flow Dynamics in Rat Somatosensory Cortex |
| title_sort | modeling of blood flow dynamics in rat somatosensory cortex |
| topic | blood flow astrocytic endfoot vasodilation neuro-glia-vasculature simulation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/13/1/72 |
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