Structural and Functional Features of Developing Brain Capillaries, and Their Alteration in Schizophrenia
Open Access
- 15 January 2021
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
Abstract
Schizophrenia affects more than 1% of the world’s population and shows very high heterogeneity in the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms experienced by patients. The pathogenic mechanisms underlying this neurodevelopmental disorder are largely unknown, although it is proposed to emerge from multiple genetic and environmental risk factors. In this work, we explore the potential alterations in the developing blood vessel network which could contribute to the development of schizophrenia. Specifically, we discuss how the vascular network evolves during early postnatal life and how genetic and environmental risk factors can lead to detrimental changes. Blood vessels, capillaries in particular, constitute a dynamic and complex infrastructure distributing oxygen and nutrients to the brain. During postnatal development, capillaries undergo many structural and anatomical changes in order to form a fully functional, mature vascular network. Advanced technologies like magnetic resonance imaging and near infrared spectroscopy are now enabling to study how the brain vasculature and its supporting features are established in humans from birth until adulthood. Furthermore, the contribution of the different neurovascular unit elements, including pericytes, endothelial cells, astrocytes and microglia, to proper brain function and behavior, can be dissected. This investigation conducted among different brain regions altered in schizophrenia, such as the prefrontal cortex, may provide further evidence that schizophrenia can be considered a neurovascular disorder.This publication has 175 references indexed in Scilit:
- Development of BOLD signal hemodynamic responses in the human brainNeuroImage, 2012
- Microglia Sculpt Postnatal Neural Circuits in an Activity and Complement-Dependent MannerNeuron, 2012
- An environmental analysis of genes associated with schizophrenia: hypoxia and vascular factors as interacting elements in the neurodevelopmental modelMolecular Psychiatry, 2012
- Abnormally persistent fMRI activation during antisaccades in schizophrenia: A neural correlate of perseveration?Schizophrenia Research, 2011
- Resting quantitative cerebral blood flow in schizophrenia measured by pulsed arterial spin labeling perfusion MRIPsychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2011
- Eugen Bleuler: Centennial Anniversary of His 1911 Publication of Dementia Praecox or the Group of SchizophreniasSchizophrenia Bulletin, 2011
- Pericytes are required for blood–brain barrier integrity during embryogenesisNature, 2010
- Neonatal hemodynamic response to visual cortex activity: high-density near-infrared spectroscopy studyJournal of Biomedical Optics, 2010
- Increased Hippocampal, Thalamic, and Prefrontal Hemodynamic Response to an Urban Noise Stimulus in SchizophreniaAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 2009
- A Review of Challenges in the Use of fMRI for Disease Classification / Characterization and A Projection Pursuit Application from A Multi-site fMRI Schizophrenia StudyBrain Imaging and Behavior, 2008