Cited by 2,511Barrier Structure and Function StudiesTraumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular DisturbancesNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Glial and neuronal control of brain blood flow

Open access
Attwell, David, Buchan, Alastair M., Charpak, Serge, Lauritzen, Martin, MacVicar, Brian A., Newman, Eric A.·2010·Nature

Abstract

Blood flow in the brain is regulated by neurons and astrocytes. Knowledge of how these cells control blood flow is crucial for understanding how neural computation is powered, for interpreting functional imaging scans of brains, and for developing treatments for neurological disorders. It is now recognized that neurotransmitter-mediated signalling has a key role in regulating cerebral blood flow, that much of this control is mediated by astrocytes, that oxygen modulates blood flow regulation, and that blood flow may be controlled by capillaries as well as by arterioles. These conceptual shifts in our understanding of cerebral blood flow control have important implications for the development of new therapeutic approaches.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nature09613

Cites

135 of 135 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Delivery of energy substrates can be adjusted on demand through modulation of neurovascular coupling or via neuronal signaling to astrocytes.

    “This process can be adjusted on demand either through modulation of neurovascular coupling15–17 or via neuronal signaling to astrocytes18.”
  • As neural activity elevates, local oxygen consumption and demand increases, triggering vasodilation of arterioles and capillaries to increase cerebral blood flow.

    “As neural activity elevates, local oxygen consumption and demand increases, triggering vasodilation of arterioles and capillaries to increase cerebral blood flow (124), which supplies oxygenated hemoglobin in excess of the metabolic rate of oxygen consumption (125).”
  • The cascade of metabolic and vascular events known as neurovascular coupling involves complex signaling among neurons, astrocytes, and the local vasculature and remains a topic of active research.

    “Such a cascade of metabolic and vascular events, known as the neurovascular coupling, involves complex signaling among neurons, astrocytes, and the local vasculature (124, 126, 127), and remains a topic of active research enabled by emerging tools (128).”
  • PVMs are most abundant on pial and parenchymal vessels larger than 20 μm in diameter, especially pial arterioles, and cover 70%-80% of their length.

    “PVMs were found most abundantly in association with pial and parenchymal vessels larger than 20 μm in diameter, particularly pial arterioles, a key site for flow regulation (7), the length of which was covered 70%-80% by PVMs (Supplemental Figure 1, A-E; supplemental material available online with this article; doi:10.1172/JCI86950DS1).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Attwell, D., Buchan, A. M., Charpak, S., Lauritzen, M., MacVicar, B. A., & Newman, E. A.
Affiliations
  • University College London (GB)
  • John Radcliffe Hospital (GB)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • University of Copenhagen (DK)
  • University of British Columbia (CA)
  • University of Minnesota (US)
Venue
Nature
Published
2010-11-10
Volume
468
Issue
7321
Pages
232-243
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2163234334
Cited by
2,511
References
135
Citations by year
2026: 144 · 2025: 163 · 2024: 163 · 2023: 147 · 2022: 176 · 2021: 197 · 2020: 180 · 2019: 177 · 2018: 177 · 2017: 172 · 2016: 156 · 2015: 174 · 2014: 146 · 2013: 147 · 2012: 120
FWCI
9.04
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • National Eye Institute (R01EY004077, P30EY011374)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Barrier Structure and Function Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
cerebral autoregulation, astrocytes, neurons, neurotransmitter signalling, oxygen sensing, capillary blood flow, arterioles, neurovascular coupling, functional neuroimaging, neurological disorders
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Brain, Brain Ischemia, Cerebrovascular Circulation, Humans, Neuroglia, Neurons, Nitric Oxide, Oxygen, Signal Transduction, Neurotransmitter Agents

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review