Research Year in Cerebrovascular Control and Stroke Response

Research Year Student to Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Health, Aarhus University with start 1 Januar 2022

Deadline for application: 1 May 2021

Title

The contribution of adrenoceptors to cerebrovascular control and stroke response in mouse model and human brain.

Background

Adrenergic innervation of the vascular wall plays an important role in the control of vascular resistance. Composition and quantity of α-and β-adrenoceptors are essential to define vascular tone changes upon excitation of perivascular sympathetic nerves or adrenaline release from adrenal glands. The significance of adrenergic receptors in cerebral circulation remains controversial in terms of specific subtypes, their localization in the vascular wall and allocation to certain calibre of blood vessel, and the role in control at rest and after stroke. Moreover, there are good evidences for significant distinction between adrenergic innervation pattern in human and rodent cerebral circulations. Understanding these differences is essential for the translation of experimental results obtained in rodent models to human.

We will induce ischemic stroke and assess mouse brain circulation in-vivo using Laser Speckle Contrast imaging and study microvascular function ex-vivo in brain slices. Different adrenoceptors’ functional contribution in-vivo and ex-vivo will be tested pharmacologically and validated using immunohistochemistry and omics approaches. Our expression findings in mouse model will be compared to post-stroke human brains available to us.

Aim

This project aims to characterize adrenoceptors in mouse cerebral circulation, their changes during ischemic stroke and compare this with the post-stroke human brain.

Supervisors

Main supervisor
Vladimir V. Matchkov, PhD, DMSc, Associate Professor
Department of Biomedicine, Health, Aarhus University

Co-supervisors
Ulf Simonsen, MD, PhD, Professor
Department of Biomedicine, Health, Aarhus University

Rolf Ankerlund Blauenfeldt, MD, RESIST study coordinator
Danish Stroke Center & Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital

Contact

Vladimir Matchkov, PhD, DMSc
Associate Professor

Email: vvm@biomed.au.dk
Phone: +45 21 83 49 82

Department of Biomedicine, Health
Aarhus University