Investigating ischemic vascular dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease

Our results reveal that mild ischemia leads to bilateral vascular dysfunction and persistent glial pathology at a chronic timepoint post-ischemia. These pathologies are exacerbated and coincide with increased amyloid pathology in an AD mouse model. We are following this up with an ongoing cross-sectional study to assess disease progression, including cognition, vascular function, and histopathology, at multiple timepoints after ischemia. Our goals are to understand how this cerebrovascular dysfunction initiates and progresses over lifespan and to correlate AD-associated cognitive decline with pathophysiology. This project could reveal insights into the mechanism of ischemia-induced chronic neurovascular impairments and how they contribute to the development of AD-like dementia.