• Masahito Nakazaki, Masanori Sasaki, Yuko Kataoka-Sasaki, Shinichi Oka, Junpei Suzuki, Yuichi Sasaki, Hiroshi Nagahama, Kazuo Hashi, Jeffery D Kocsis, and Osamu Honmou.
• Department of Neural Regenerative Medicine, Research Institute for Frontier Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, 060-8556, Japan; Department of Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA; Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA.
• Neuroscience. 2019 Jun 1; 408: 361-377.

AbstractCerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is not only a cause of vascular dementia (VD) but also a contributing factor to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The essential pathological feature of CSVD is the disruption of blood-brain barrier (BBB). Dysfunction of BBB due to degeneration of both endothelial cells and pericytes in capillaries leads to neuronal damage and progressive brain atrophy. Moreover, deterioration of amyloid-β (Aβ) clearance due to the failure of the transvascular BBB transport system results in accumulation of Aβ in the brain. Intravenous infusion of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) elicits functional recovery in experimental models including stroke and spinal cord injury. One effect of MSCs is to restore disrupted BBB through remodeling of microvasculature. Using spontaneously hypertensive rats (stroke-prone) with impaired cognitive function as a CSVD model, we have shown that infused MSCs has a therapeutic effect for cognitive function. Restoration of BBB function via remodeling of microvasculature and inhibition of Aβ accumulation could inhibit progressive brain atrophy and lead to restore cognitive dysfunction. Gene expression analysis indicated that infused MSCs activates both transforming growth factor-β and angiopoietin 1 signaling pathways and promotes the remodeling of microvasculature. Thus, infused MSCs may represent a novel therapy for both VD and AD.Copyright © 2019 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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