Kira Shaw

The vascular contribution to cognitive decline in ageing and dementia - Nature Reviews Neuroscience Growing evidence suggests that reduced cerebral blood flow contributes to cognitive decline in ageing and dementia. Attwell and colleagues discuss the underlying mechanisms and functional consequences...

Delighted to share our latest review in Nature Reviews Neuroscience!
We examine the growing evidence that vascular dysfunction plays a key role in cognitive decline in ageing and dementia, and argue that preserving/restoring CBF should be central to future therapies.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congratulations Silvia, I look forward to reading it ☺️

Delighted to welcome a new Group Leader to our flagship vascular dementia research centre with @thebhf.bsky.social 🎉👏

Prof Catherine Hall @cathnaledi.bsky.social and her team will examine how changes in blood flow & oxygen supply drive the onset of vascular dementia & Alzheimer’s👉 buff.ly/gyouoEV

Come and join us in Manchester... We are looking for candidates interested in vascular health and neurodegeneration. This project is specifically exploring how menopause may increase Alzheimer's risk.
We also have a postdoc position available: www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Why does dementia hit women harder? It’s more than longer life spans.

🧠 Higher risk
⚡ Faster decline
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Unpaid care burden
🧪 Underrepresented in trials & leadership

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jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Research...

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Research Associate in Improving Cerebral Blood Flow in Vascular Dementia:Oxford Road

We have a @thebhf.bsky.social funded postdoc position to work on a novel treatment option to improve cerebral blood flow in a model of vascular dementia. Application deadline 14th April. @gjbrainresearch.bsky.social www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/internal/Job... Please RT

Hiring soon!
I am looking for a preclinical imaging physicist with MRI experience. We will be investigating gas exchange in the mammalian brain, with a particular focus on oxygen. Using a gas contrast agent to ask fundamental questions about gas exchange and cerebral perfusion #hiring #neuroscience

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We term this early and remote decrease in the cerebral draining veins, “The B of the Bang” for neurovascular coupling.

Investigating whether this locomotion-induced haemodynamic response was altered in disease, we showed AD mice (APP/PS1) had a smaller HbT decrease in the draining vein than mixed disease mice (APP/PS1 combined with atherosclerosis, MIX).

When we looked at overlying meningeal vessels (MN), we also observed a decrease in HbT at the onset of locomotion, which unlike within the draining vein (which is contained within the cortex) did not go on to exceed baseline HbT levels for the remainder of the locomotion response.

We show locomotion evokes an initial decrease in total haemoglobin (HbT) in the draining vein, before the WBR HbT increase. Whilst the size of the locomotion event impacts the HbT response magnitude within WBR vessels, this is not true for the early HbT decrease within the draining veins (DV).

Within somatosensory cortex, responses were taken from pial vessels inside the whisker barrel region ([WBR]: "whisker artery" and "whisker vein"), a large vein from the sagittal sinus adjacent to the WBR (draining vein), and meningeal vessels from the dura mater (don't penetrate cortex).

In this follow-up study we have extended our work investigating the impact of locomotion on haemodynamic responses to look across the different vascular compartments.

The effects of locomotion on sensory-evoked haemodynamic responses in the cortex of awake mice - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - The effects of locomotion on sensory-evoked haemodynamic responses in the cortex of awake mice

In our previous work we showed that locomotion induces large increases in haemodynamic activity in the whisker barrel region of the somatosensory cortex, meaning it is important that it is monitored in any imaging experiments using awake, behaving mice: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Voluntary locomotion induces an early and remote hemodynamic decrease in the large cerebral veins SignificanceBehavior regulates dural and cerebral vessels, with spontaneous locomotion inducing dural vessel constriction and increasing stimulus-evoked cerebral hemodynamic responses. It is vital to investigate the function of different vascular network components, surrounding and within the brain, to better understand the role of the neurovascular unit in health and neurodegeneration.AimWe characterized locomotion-induced hemodynamic responses across vascular compartments of the whisker barrel cortex: artery, vein, parenchyma, draining, and meningeal vein.ApproachUsing 2D-OIS, hemodynamic responses during locomotion were recorded in 9- to 12-month-old awake mice: wild-type, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), atherosclerosis, or mixed (atherosclerosis/AD) models. Within the somatosensory cortex, responses were taken from pial vessels inside the whisker barrel region [(WBR): “whisker artery” and “whisker vein”], a large vein from the sagittal sinus adjacent to the WBR (draining vein), and meningeal vessels from the dura mater (which do not penetrate cortical tissue).ResultsWe demonstrate that locomotion evokes an initial decrease in total hemoglobin (HbT) within the draining vein before the increase in HbT within WBR vessels. The locomotion event size influences the magnitude of the HbT increase in the pial vessels of the WBR but not of the early HbT decrease within the draining veins. Following locomotion onset, an early HbT decrease was also observed in the overlying meningeal vessels, which unlike within the cortex did not go on to exceed baseline HbT levels during the remainder of the locomotion response. We show that locomotion-induced hemodynamic responses are altered in disease in the draining vein and whisker artery, suggesting this could be an important neurodegeneration biomarker.ConclusionsThis initial reduction in HbT within the draining and meningeal veins potentially serves as a “space-saving” mechanism, allowing for large increases in cortical HbT associated with locomotion. Given this mechanism is impacted by disease, it may provide an important target for vascular-based therapeutic interventions.

I'm pleased to share our new paper about the impact of locomotion on haemodynamic responses across the brain's vascular compartments in SPIE: Neurophotonics. www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/neu...
Please read the comments below for a 'Bluetorial' on our findings... 👇

Vittani, Lee, Wang, Hiraoka, et al.
KI mouse expressing red fluorescent blood
In situ SpyTag/Catcher attachment of biosensor
ECS SpyCatcher to capture BBB leak
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
We hope this method is useful to a wide range of the biology community.

Imaging in a dark room when it’s sunny outside is worth it for beautiful vessels 😍 (🟢green is methoxy label of CAA). #twophoton #alzheimers #imaging