Cerebral blood flow is controlled by two crucial processes, cerebral autoregulation (CA) and neurovascular coupling (NVC) or functional hyperemia. Whereas CA ensures constant blood flow over a wide range of systemic pressures, NVC ensures rapid spatial and temporal increases in cerebral blood flow in response to neuronal activation. The focus of this review is to discuss the cellular mechanisms by which astrocytes contribute to the regulation of vascular tone in terms of their participation in NVC and, to a lesser extent, CA. We discuss evidence for the various signaling modalities by which astrocytic activation leads to vasodilation and vasoconstriction of parenchymal arterioles. Moreover, we provide a rationale for the contribution of astrocytes to pressure-induced increases in vascular tone via the vasoconstrictor 20-HETE (a downstream metabolite of arachidonic acid). Along these lines, we highlight the importance of the transient receptor potential channel of the vanilloid family (TRPV4) as a key molecular determinant in the regulation of vascular tone in cerebral arterioles. Finally, we discuss current advances in the technical tools available to study NVC mechanisms in the brain as it relates to the participation of astrocytes.
Keywords: astrocytes; cerebral autoregulation; neurovascular coupling; parenchymal arteriole; vascular tone.