Insulin regulates neurovascular coupling through astrocytes

Mice with insulin receptor (IR)-deficient astrocytes (GFAP-IR knockout [KO] mice) show blunted responses to insulin and reduced brain glucose uptake, whereas IRdeficient astrocytes show disturbed mitochondrial responses to glucose. While exploring the functional impact of disturbed mitochondrial fun...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fernández, Ana M., Martinez-Rachadell, Laura, Navarrete, Marta, Pose-Utrilla, Julia, Dávila, José C., Pignatelli Garrigos, Jaime, Diaz-Pacheco, Sonia, Guerra-Cantera, Santiago, Viedma-Moreno, Emilia, Ruiz de Martin Esteban, Samuel, Mostany, Ricardo, García-Cáceres, Cristina, Tschöp, Matthias, Iglesias, Teresa, Ceballos, María L. de, Gutiérrez, A., Torres Alemán, Ignacio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/279102
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/279102
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Astrocytes
Insulin
neurovascular coupling
Descripción
Sumario:Mice with insulin receptor (IR)-deficient astrocytes (GFAP-IR knockout [KO] mice) show blunted responses to insulin and reduced brain glucose uptake, whereas IRdeficient astrocytes show disturbed mitochondrial responses to glucose. While exploring the functional impact of disturbed mitochondrial function in astrocytes, we observed that GFAP-IR KO mice show uncoupling of brain blood flow with glucose uptake. Since IR-deficient astrocytes show higher levels of reactive oxidant species (ROS), this leads to stimulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1¿ and, consequently, of the vascular endothelial growth factor angiogenic pathway. Indeed, GFAP-IR KO mice show disturbed brain vascularity and blood flow that is normalized by treatment with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC). NAC ameliorated high ROS levels, normalized angiogenic signaling and mitochondrial function in IR-deficient astrocytes, and normalized neurovascular coupling in GFAP-IR KO mice. Our results indicate that by modulating glucose uptake and angiogenesis, insulin receptors in astrocytes participate in neurovascular coupling.