An unexpected discovery by Science Advances: Calcium can accurately guide blood flow in the brain

Unlike other parts of the body, there is not enough space in the brain to store energy

Now, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Vermont have discovered how the brain communicates with blood vessels when it needs energy, and how these blood vessels respond by relaxing or contracting to direct blood flow to specific brain areas

The findings of the study were published in the July 21 issue of Science Advances

Researchers understand how the brain directs energy to itself in complex details, helping to determine what goes wrong in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, in which defective blood flow can predict recognition.

The large arteries provide nutrients to medium-sized blood vessels called arterioles, and then provide nutrients to the smaller capillaries, which are so small that they can only pass through one blood cell at a time

"It seems that there are two mechanisms working together to ensure that energy in the form of blood enters specific areas of the brain: one is extensive and the other is precise," said Dr.

Dr.

"Before we used this new technology, there was a completely invisible world of calcium signals in the brain, and now we can see a large amount of activity in the brain's blood vessels: they are constantly firing," Dr.

The research team then analyzed the complex cellular mechanisms behind calcium's role in guiding blood through the brain's capillaries

"The capillaries are traditionally considered to be the simple tubes of red blood cells and the barrier between the blood and the brain," said co-senior author, Dr.

"The first step in finding out what’s wrong with the disease is to determine how the system works.

(Biology: Wanwen)