Postischemic angiogenesis is an important recovery mechanism. Both arteries and veins are upregulated during angiogenesis, but eventually there are more angiogenic veins than arteries in terms of number and length. It is critical to understand how the veins are modulated after ischemia and then transitioned into angiogenic vessels during the proangiogenic stage to finally serve as a restorative strength to the injured area. Using a rat model of transient focal cerebral ischemia, the hypercapnic blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response was used to evaluate vascular reactivity, while the hyperoxic BOLD and tissue oxygen level-dependent (TOLD) responses were used to evaluate the vascular functionality at 1, 3, and 7days after ischemia. Vessel-like venous signals appeared on R2* maps on days 3 and 7, but not on day 1. The large hypercapnic BOLD responses on days 3 and 7 indicated that these areas have high vascular reactivity. The temporal correlation between vascular reactivity and the immunoreactivity to desmin and VEGF further indicates that the integrity of vascular reactivity is associated with the pericyte coverage as regulated by the VEGF level. Vascular functionality remained low on days 1, 3, and 7, as reflected by the small hyperoxic BOLD and large hyperoxic TOLD responses, indicating the low oxygen consumption of the ischemic tissues. These functional changes in proangiogenic veins may be critical for angiogenesis.
Keywords: Cerebral ischemia; MRI; Proangiogenesis; Vascular functionality; Vascular reactivity.
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