Kinetics of thromboxane A2 receptor-driven vascular tone in the cerebral cortex ex vivo

Ex vivo imaging in acute cortical brain slices is a valuable tool to assess neurovascular coupling and is particularly useful for studying active, local changes in microvascular compartments in isolation from upstream or downstream changes in flow. However, the lack of vascular perfusion pressure ex vivo results in loss of vascular tone, which must be restored prior to experiments to unmask dilatory signals. The thromboxane A2 receptor agonist U46619 is a widely used preconstrictor, yet its dose-response properties and kinetics of action on different vascular segments are not fully known. Here, we characterize the effects of U46619 on cortical arterioles and capillaries in ex vivo slices from rats and mice. Dose response curves tested in acute rat brain slices using 0 to 1000 nM U46619 showed that maximal constriction is reached at ∼300 nM in both arterioles and capillaries. Extended application of 200 nM U46619 (∼66 % maximal dose) over 2 h revealed that, on average, capillaries constrict faster than arterioles in rat brain slices. Cross-species examination in mouse tissue showed that vessels in mouse brain slices respond faster and constrict stronger on average than in rat brain slices, and that mouse capillaries also constrict faster than mouse arterioles. Our observations suggest that near-maximal preconstriction can be achieved in ex vivo experiments using 200–300 nM U46619, with a minimum incubation time of 20 min for studies involving capillaries and at least 30 min for studies involving arterioles.