Altered dynamics of neurovascular coupling in CADASIL

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Vascular Biology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Neurovascular coupling links neural activity to blood flow changes.
• Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a genetic small vessel disease.
• Investigating neurovascular coupling in early CADASIL is crucial for understanding disease progression.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate neurovascular coupling in the early stages of CADASIL.
• To determine if functional hyperemia is altered in CADASIL patients.
• To assess the utility of ASL-fMRI in detecting early vascular dysfunction in CADASIL.

Main Methods:

• Simultaneous monitoring of functional hyperemia and evoked potentials using ASL-fMRI and electroencephalography.
• Visual and motor stimulations of 20- and 40-second durations were employed.
• Analysis focused on functional hyperemia dynamics and evoked potential responses.

Main Results:

• Cortical functional hyperemia was significantly different in CADASIL patients compared to healthy controls.
• Evoked potentials remained unaltered between groups.
• A time-shifted decrease in functional hyperemia response to 40-sec stimulations was observed in CADASIL patients.

Conclusions:

• Neurovascular coupling alterations are present early in CADASIL.
• ASL-fMRI can effectively assess these early neurovascular coupling changes.
• ASL-fMRI provides a simple marker for detecting vascular dysfunction in CADASIL.