title: Nitric oxide and cerebrovascular regulation.
abstract: The cerebrovascular regulation involves highly complex mechanisms to assure that the brain is perfused at all times. These mechanisms depend on all components of the neurovascular units: neurons, glia, and vascular cells. All these cell types can produce nitric oxide (NO), a powerful vasodilator through different NO synthases. Many studies underlined the key role of NO in the maintenance of resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) as well as in the mechanisms that control cerebrovascular tone: autoregulation and neurovascular coupling. However, although the role of NO in the control of CBF has been largely investigated, the complexity of the NO system and the lack of specific NO synthase inhibitors led to still unresolved questions such as the origin of NO and the pathways by which it controls the vascular tone. In this chapter, the role of NO in the regulation of CBF is critically reviewed and discussed in the context of the neurovascular unit and the general principles of cerebrovascular regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer and Software Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal.
authors.forename: Seyed Nasrollah
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Tabatabaei
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Faculty of medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Research Center of the Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Electronic address: helene.girouard@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Girouard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide
keywords: Astrocytes; Autoregulation; Cerebral blood flow; Endothelial cells; Neurons; Neurovascular coupling; Nitric oxide; Vascular smooth muscle cells