Development of a cerebral microvascular dysplasia model in rodents

Normal vasculature development of the central nervous system is extremely important because patients with vascular malformations are at life-threatening risk for intracranial hemorrhage or cerebral ischemia. The etiology and pathogenesis of abnormal vasculature development in the central nervous system are unknown, and progress is hampered by the lack of animal models for human cerebrovascular diseases. Here, we report our current study on cerebral microvascular dysplasia (CMVD) development. Using vascular endothelial growth factor hyper-stimulation, we demonstrated that aberrant microvessels could be developed in the rodent brain under certain conditions (such as genetic deficient background, local cytokine and chemokine release, or exogenous vessel dilating stimulation) that may speed up focal angiogenesis and lead to cerebral vascular dysplasia.