Evaluation of spreading vasomotor responses in isolated human cerebral arteries

•The protocol outlines an approach to quantify electrical communication in isolated human cerebral arteries, facilitating insights into human cerebrovascular physiology and regulation of cerebral blood flow. Optimal neural activity depends on adequate brain perfusion, requiring precise coordination between neuronal metabolic demand and vascular responses. This coupling depends on intercellular communication within the vasculature, which remains poorly characterized in the human cerebral circulation. In this regard, we present the "conduction protocol," a functional method to assess electrical signal propagation along human cerebral arteries. Cerebral surface arteries (∼220 µm diameter, ∼2000 µm length) were isolated from resected human brain tissue, cannulated, pressurized in a myography chamber, and superfused with physiological salt solution to maintain viability. A localized high concentration of potassium chloride was applied to the arterial wall using a micropipette, and vasoconstrictive responses were measured at the application site and at distal locations up to 1800 µm. A strong constrictive response was consistently observed across all measured sites, with a gradual decay in magnitude as the signal propagated along the vessel. This protocol validates conducted vasomotor responses in human cerebral arteries and provides a practical and accessible approach to assess vascular intercellular communication and cerebrovascular responses in the human cerebral circulation.