Cerebral chronic hypoperfusion in mice causes premature aging of the cerebrovasculature

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) is the main characteristic of an aged brain showing cerebrovascular alterations. Our previous study that the morphological changes in the pial arteries accompany a decrease in the cerebral blood flow in aged mouse brains, and it raises the question of whether artificial CCH can induce the same changes in brain vessel morphology. Here, we examined the effect of CCH on cerebrovascular morphology. Using a microcoil-induced chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (MCH) model, we induced CCH for 8 and 12 weeks. The cerebrovasculature morphology was evaluated using three-dimensional vessel analysis and compared with that of aging mice. We found the morphological changes in brain vessels of MCH mice, indicating that the CCH can induce cerebrovascular alteration. However, the changes in brain vessel morphology in the MCH mice were different in detail from those in the aging mice. Aging mice showed an increase in vessel tortuosity and thinned string vessels; MCH mice mainly showed thinned string vessels. This suggests that CCH may be a cause of age-related cerebrovascular alterations.