Relationship between Blood Vessels and Alzheimer's Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Dementia is usually the culmination of multiple sequential and concomitant disease processes. This particularly so in dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease, in which damage initiated by Aβ peptide is amplified by a range of processes that include the induction and spread of tau pathology, inflammation, oxidative stress, overactivation of the unfolded protein response, and ribosonal dysfunction. Often overlooked amongst the disease processes that accelerate and exacerbate brain damage in Alzheimer's disease are those that affect cerebral vascular structure and function. These processes are major contributors to disease progression from an early stage, causing impairment of neurovascular coupling, reduction in cerebral perfusion, leakage of toxic serum proteins into the brain parenchyma, and impaired clearance of Aβ and other toxic metabolites that accumulate within the interstitial fluid pathways of the brain. Our aim in this Special Issue of Cells is to provide an up-to-date overview of the structural and functional abnormalities of the cerebral vasculature in Alzheimer's disease, drawing together information gained through studies that have employed a wide range of in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo methods. The original research and review papers will cover topics that address Alzheimer's disease-related changes in cerebral microvessel morphology and maintenance, retinal blood vessels, vascular cell composition, extracellular matrix, contractility and calibre, blood–brain barrier function, paravascular and transendothelial transport, inflammatory vascular responses, and the approaches used to model and study these processes.

Prof. Seth Love
Dr. Scott Miners
Guest Editors

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• Alzheimer's disease
• Cerebral blood vessels
• Retinal blood vessels
• Endothelial cells
• Vascular smooth muscle cells
• Pericytes
• Extracellular matrix
• Cerebral perfusion
• Cerebral ischaemia
• Neurovascular coupling
• Blood–brain barrier
• Vascular transport
• Interstitial fluid drainage
• Microfluidic systems
• In vitro models
• Animal models