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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Raj KalariaORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© 2021. Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a hereditary small vessel disease presenting with migraine, mood and cognitive disorders, focal neurological deficits, recurrent ischemic attacks, lacunar infarcts and brain white matter changes. As they age, CADASIL patients invariably develop cognitive impairment and subcortical dementia. CADASIL is caused by missense mutations in the NOTCH3 gene resulting in a profound cerebral vasculopathy affecting primarily arterial vascular smooth muscle cells, which target the microcirculation and perfusion. Based on a thorough review of morphological lesions in arteries, veins, and capillaries in CADASIL, we surmise that arteriolar and capillary pericyte damage or deficiency appears a key feature in the pathogenesis of the disease. This may affect critical pericyte-endothelial interactions causing stroke injury and vasomotor disturbances. Changes in microvascular permeability due to perhaps localized blood-brain barrier alterations and pericyte secretory dysfunction likely contribute to delayed neuronal as well as glial cell death. Moreover, pericyte-mediated cerebral venous insufficiency may explain white matter lesions and the dilatation of Virchow-Robin perivascular spaces typical of CADASIL. The postulated central role of the pericyte offers some novel approaches to the study and treatment of CADASIL and enable elucidation of other forms of cerebral small vessel diseases and subcortical vascular dementia.
Author(s): Ruchoux M-M, Kalaria RN, Roman GC
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Cerebral Circulation - Cognition and Behavior
Year: 2021
Volume: 2
Online publication date: 16/10/2021
Acceptance date: 12/10/2021
ISSN (electronic): 2666-2450
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cccb.2021.100031
DOI: 10.1016/j.cccb.2021.100031
