title: Development of an ex vivo model for the study of cerebrovascular function utilizing isolated mouse olfactory artery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cerebral vessels, such as intracerebral perforating arterioles isolated from rat brain, have been widely used as an ex vivo model to study the cerebrovascular function associated with cerebrovascular disorders and the therapeutic effects of various pharmacological agents. These perforating arterioles, however, have demonstrated differences in the vascular architecture and reactivity compared with a larger leptomeningeal artery which has been commonly implicated in cerebrovascular disease. In this study, therefore, we developed the method for studying cerebrovascular function utilizing the olfactory artery isolated from the mouse brain.
  
  
  METHODS
  The olfactory artery (OA) was isolated from the C57/BL6 wild-type mouse brain. After removing connective tissues, one side of the isolated vessel segment (approximately -500 µm in length) was cannulated and the opposite end of the vessel was completely sealed while being viewed with an inverted microscope. After verifying the absence of pressure leakage, we examined the vascular reactivity to various vasoactive agents under the fixed intravascular pressure (60 mm Hg).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the isolated mouse OAs were able to constrict in response to vasoconstrictors, including KCl, phenylephrine, endothelin-1, and prostaglandin PGH2. Moreover, this isolated vessel demonstrated vasodilation in a dose-dependent manner when vasodilatory agents, acetylcholine and bradykinin, were applied.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that the isolated olfactory artery would provide as a useful ex vivo model to study the molecular and cellular mechanisms of vascular function underlying cerebrovascular disorders and the direct effects of such disease-modifying pathways on cerebrovascular function utilizing pharmacological agents and genetically modified mouse models.
authors: Department of Neurological Surgery, The Catholic University of Korea, Daejeon St. Mary's Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors: Hyung-Jin
authors: HJ
authors: Lee
authors: Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA. ; Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA. ; Alzheimers Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors: Hans H
authors: HH
authors: Dietrich
authors: Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA. ; Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors: Byung Hee
authors: BH
authors: Han
authors: Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA. ; Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors: Gregory J
authors: GJ
authors: Zipfel
keywords: Cerebral artery; Vasoconstriction; Vasodilation