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Neuroscience

Controlled capillaries

Nature volume 443, pages 642–643 (2006)Cite this article

The finest scale of blood flow through the brain occurs in capillaries. Suspicions that capillary flow is regulated by cells that put the squeeze on these vessels are now borne out by detailed experiments.

The control of brain blood flow poses an intriguing 'plumbing' problem. On the one hand, high overall flows are required to maintain healthy brain function, because in humans the brain accounts for 20% of the body's energy consumption even though it forms only 5% of the total weight. On the other hand, there is a need to precisely regulate increases and decreases in flow to match the changing metabolic needs of specific brain regions. It has been known for more than 100 years1 that the brain regulates its own blood supply. It can increase blood flow specifically to discrete regions to follow increases in neuronal activity. This principle has been exploited in functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, which have been extensively used to map the brain regions that are associated with different tasks2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain Research Center, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 2B5, British Columbia, Canada

    Brian A. MacVicar

  2. Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, M5G 1X8, Ontario, Canada

    Michael W. Salter

Authors
  1. Brian A. MacVicar
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  2. Michael W. Salter
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MacVicar, B., Salter, M. Controlled capillaries. Nature 443, 642–643 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/443642a

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