Angiotensin II (Ang II) and microglia modulate blood-brain barrier permeability in Hypertension: beneficial effects of exercise training

Abstract

We determined in the initial part of this Project that: 1) angiotensin II is greatly involved in the lesion of blood-brain barrier (BBB) exhibited by chronically hypertensive rats, 2) BBB dysfunction is accompanied by increased transcellular transport (transcytosis) across the endothelial cell, 3) these effects are partially corrected by exercise training. Knowing that an important function of brain angiotensin II to activate the microglia thus facilitating the pro-inflammatory cytokines synthesis that worsens the BBB function, this project aimed to evaluate in sedentary and trained spontaneously hypertensive rats microglia's expression/activity within autonomic nuclei and its effects on the hemodynamic parameters, BBB permeability and transcytosis. We also aimed to analyze all these parameters in the presence of both activation and blockade Angiotensin II and microglial cells. (AU)