Age‐related changes in cerebrovascular health and their effects on neural function and cognition: A comprehensive review

Abstract

The process of aging includes changes in cellular biology that affect local interactions between cells and their environments and eventually propagate to systemic levels. In the brain, where neurons critically depend on an efficient and dynamic supply of oxygen and glucose, age‐related changes in the complex interaction between the brain parenchyma and the cerebrovasculature have effects on health and functioning that negatively impact cognition and play a role in pathology. Thus, cerebrovascular health is considered one of the main mechanisms by which a healthy lifestyle, such as habitual cardiorespiratory exercise and a healthful diet, could lead to improved cognitive outcomes with aging. This review aims at detailing how the physiology of the cerebral vascular system changes with age and how these changes lead to differential trajectories of cognitive maintenance or decline. This provides a framework for generating specific mechanistic hypotheses about the efficacy of proposed interventions and lifestyle covariates that contribute to enhanced cognitive well‐being. Finally, we discuss the methodological implications of age‐related changes in the cerebral vasculature for human cognitive neuroscience research and propose directions for future experiments aimed at investigating age‐related changes in the relationship between physiology and cognitive mechanisms.

Aging and cerebrovascular health: Structural, functional, cognitive, and methodological implications

“…This issue opens with an introductory review article ( Zimmerman et al , 2021), in which we provide an overview of cerebrovascular physiology, its alterations with aging, and how they might influence anatomical and functional brain changes and cognitive decline. This review is followed by a series of contributions focusing on risk factors for age‐related cerebrovascular and neural changes, and in particular, those involving psychological and behavioral factors.…”

“…In the final article of this section, Scudder and colleagues (2021) propose the use of dual impedance cardiography (d‐ICG) to measure PWV from the thorax and calf and show that these measures strongly correlate with age and cardiovascular risk factors and are within the normative intervals for other established techniques, thus making d‐ICG an inexpensive and viable method to assess the degree of peripheral arteriosclerosis in the laboratory. These measures are synergistic with measures of cerebral arterial stiffening based on optical methods and reviewed by Zimmerman and colleagues (2021; see also Chiarelli et al., 2017; Fabiani, Low, et al., 2014; Tan et al., 2017).…”

Early Life Stress and Metabolic Plasticity of Brain Cells: Impact on Neurogenesis and Angiogenesis

“…Thus, it is reasonable that under the conditions of enhanced demand for neurogenesis (e.g., learning), suppression of cerebral angiogenesis results in the impairment of learning and memory [ 139 ]. Exercise-induced angiogenesis in brain tissue is well-documented phenomenon and might be partially responsible for cognition-enhancing effect of regular physical activity [ 140 ]. Also, it is known that post-ischemic angiogenesis contributes to brain tissue repair and neuronal remodeling via metabolic support of developing neuronal cells, guidance of cells and axons toward the ischemic locus, and oxygen supply to the neurogenic niches for initiating proliferation and differentiation of cells [ 141 ].…”

The Effect of High Fat Diet on Cerebrovascular Health and Pathology: A Species Comparative Review

“…The downstream consequences of an HFD, including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia and obesity, have long been recognized as predictors of cardiovascular disease and arterial stiffening in humans. Besides increased risk of heart attacks and stroke, arterial stiffening might cause downstream damage to the brain through increased pulsatility [ 67 , 68 ]. Using non-invasive optical methods in humans, the stiffness of cerebral arteries can be inferred through the shape of the pulse wave [ 69 , 70 ].…”