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Regulation of Cerebral Artery Diameter by Potassium Channels

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Potassium Channels in Cardiovascular Biology

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Abstract

One remarkable feature of the cerebral circulation is the maintenance of near-constant blood flow to the brain, even under the most extreme circumstances. Diameter regulation of cerebral resistance arteries to ensure this constant flow of oxygen and other nutrients to the brain involves the integration of a multitude of neural, humoral, endothelial, metabolic, and physical factors. Further complexity in the study of cerebral artery regulation arises when one considers that although total cerebral blood flow (accounting for approximately 20% of the entire blood flow in adult humans) remains constant, blood flow patterns within the brain can shift dramatically with changing electrical activity patterns. Although the factors regulating cerebral arterial diameter are both diverse and complex in nature, most, if not all, of these vasoactive stimuli ultimately act to control the contractile state of cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells via changes in the global intracellular free Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+] i ) of these cells. These fluctuations in [Ca2+] i largely mirror membrane potential changes in these cells, due to changes in the open-state probablity of voltage-sensitive Ca2+ channels, the major Ca2+ influx pathway in this tissue (see Nelson et al., 1990 for a review).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA

    George C. Wellman & Mark T. Nelson

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  1. George C. Wellman
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  2. Mark T. Nelson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Walter McKenzie Health Science Centre, University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Stephen L. Archer

  2. Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

    Nancy J. Rusch

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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Wellman, G.C., Nelson, M.T. (2001). Regulation of Cerebral Artery Diameter by Potassium Channels. In: Archer, S.L., Rusch, N.J. (eds) Potassium Channels in Cardiovascular Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1303-2_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1303-2_26

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5487-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1303-2

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