title: Pinacidil induces vascular dilation and hyperemia in vivo and does not impact biophysical properties of neurons and astrocytes in vitro.
abstract: Vascular and neural systems are highly interdependent, as evidenced by the wealth of intrinsic modulators shared by the two systems. We tested the hypothesis that pinacidil, a selective agonist for the SUR2B receptor found on smooth muscles, could serve as an independent means of inducing vasodilation and increased local blood volume to emulate functional hyperemia. Application of pinacidil induced vasodilation and increased blood volume in the in vivo neocortex in anesthetized rats and awake mice. Direct application of this agent to the in vitro neocortical slice had no direct impact on biophysical properties of neurons or astrocytes assessed with whole-cell recording. These findings suggest that pinacidil provides an effective and selective means for inducing hyperemia in vivo, and may provide a useful tool in directly testing the impact of hemodynamics on neural activity, as recently predicted by the hemo-neural hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Building 46-2171, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Bryan T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Higashikubo
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cardin
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Knoblich
authors.forename: Raddy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.forename: Mark T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Christopher I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Joshua C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Brumberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D006940:Hyperemia / Q000139:chemically induced*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D019579:Neocortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D020110:Pinacidil / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D020110:Pinacidil