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Brain endothelial Gαq/11 signalling in cerebrovascular function and cognition of aged mice
Dimitrios Spyropoulos, Lena Kleindienst, Phillip Ehrich, Dorothea Ziemens, Rentsenkhand Natsagdorj, Nicholas Noll, Cathrin Elly Hansen, Géza Adam Curley et al.. EBioMedicine, 2026-05-18
Topic: Inflammation, microglia and astrocytes
The brain endothelial Gαq/11 signalling pathway preserves normal vascular reactivity, and its loss resembles mild endothelial dysfunction in the brain. While the vessel structure was maintained in adult mice, deletion of Gαq/11 signalling led to capillary rarefaction and blood-brain barrier disruption in aged mice. These effects were accompanied by disturbed VEGF signalling and an increase in senescence markers and oxidative stress in the vasculature, culminating in cognitive impairment with increased tau phosphorylation in the cortex and hippocampus and decreased myelination in the white matter. These findings reflect the main hallmarks of cSVD and demonstrate a protective role of Gαq/11 in endothelial cells in ageing. Furthermore, our results show that the combination of cerebral endothelial dysfunction and ageing accelerates cognitive impairment. FUNDING: Research was supported by grants from the European Research Council, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the institutional priority program MI-VascAD of the University of Lübeck, and the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie European Union's Horizon 2020 research program.
Key findings
- The brain endothelial Gαq/11 signalling pathway preserves normal vascular reactivity, and its loss resembles mild endothelial dysfunction in the brain.
- While the vessel structure was maintained in adult mice, deletion of Gαq/11 signalling led to capillary rarefaction and blood-brain barrier disruption in aged mice.
- These effects were accompanied by disturbed VEGF signalling and an increase in senescence markers and oxidative stress in the vasculature, culminating in cognitive impairment with increased tau phosphorylation in the cortex and hippocampus and decreased myelination in the white matter.
- These findings reflect the main hallmarks of cSVD and demonstrate a protective role of Gαq/11 in endothelial cells in ageing.
- Furthermore, our results show that the combination of cerebral endothelial dysfunction and ageing accelerates cognitive impairment.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 45/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 25 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 45 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (EBioMedicine) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Laboratory or animal study (title names “mice”) — scores zero |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 42150306) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 25 / 56 | Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 25 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 45 out of 100. |
| Total | 45 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Spyropoulos, D., Kleindienst, L., Ehrich, P., Ziemens, D., Natsagdorj, R., Noll, N., et al. (2026). Brain endothelial Gαq/11 signalling in cerebrovascular function and cognition of aged mice. EBioMedicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106283
Vancouver
Spyropoulos D, Kleindienst L, Ehrich P, Ziemens D, Natsagdorj R, Noll N, et al. Brain endothelial Gαq/11 signalling in cerebrovascular function and cognition of aged mice. EBioMedicine. 2026. doi:10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106283. PMID: 42150306.
BibTeX
@article{spyropoulos2026-42150306,
author = {Spyropoulos, Dimitrios and Kleindienst, Lena and Ehrich, Phillip and Ziemens, Dorothea and Natsagdorj, Rentsenkhand and Noll, Nicholas and Hansen, Cathrin Elly and Curley, Géza Adam and others},
title = {{Brain endothelial Gαq/11 signalling in cerebrovascular function and cognition of aged mice}},
journal = {EBioMedicine},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106283},
pmid = {42150306},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106283}
}
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