Brain derived vascular cells in dementia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Isolation, culture, and characterisation of human brain-derived vascular cells to model the vascular system in Alzheimer’s disease
IRAS ID
276662
Contact name
J Scott Miners
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Reduced blood flow within the brain contribute to cognitive decline and dementia. Research indicates that a certain cell within blood vessel, known as a pericyte, regulates blood flow but becomes dysfunctional and degenerates in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Much of the research on individual human pericytes has used cells isolated from foetal brain tissue or from adult rodent models of disease. Whilst this has provided valuable insights, foetal pericytes, and those derived from rodents, likely differ from those in adults and are sub-optimal for studying the causes of pericyte damage and degeneration in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Methods have been developed that allow pericytes and other vascular cell-types to be isolated from human adult brain tissue and grown in culture for several weeks. We would like to use surplus resected brain tissue from adult (non-demented) individuals undergoing (1) temporal lobectomy for epilepsy or (ii) brain tumour resection, to isolate and grow vascular cells. The primary objective of the research is to model/identify causes of pericyte dysfunction and degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. The secondary objective is to map genetic/transcriptomic profiles of human brain-derived vascular cells compared to published data from vascular cells isolated from mouse brain. We will also compare human brain-derived vascular cells to those derived from peripheral organs. More broadly, the study will allow us to understand the role of pericytes and vascular cells in dementia and other human diseases such as stroke and multiple sclerosis. This is a pilot study that will be performed on brain tissue samples from approximately 50-75 donors to inform the feasibility of potential future larger studies. The study will be undertaken at Southmead Hospital (NBT) and the Chief Investigator is funded by a personal fellowship funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/PR/0444
Date of REC Opinion
7 Oct 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion