{
  "id": 3769401,
  "title": "Inhibitory Interneurons Modulate Neurovascular Coupling Primarily Through Indirect Circuit Mechanisms",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/inhibitory-interneurons-modulate-neurovascular-coupling-primarily",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-27T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.25.743501v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Neurovascular coupling (NVC) is a connection between neuronal activity and local blood flow, playing a crucial role in brain function and often disrupted in neurological disorders. While inhibitory interneurons can directly influence blood vessels, the extent of their contribution to NVC during sensory processing is still debated. To better understand the role of parvalbumin-expressing (PV) and somatostatin-expressing (SOM) interneurons in shaping functional hyperemia in the mouse barrel cortex, researchers employed mesoscale cell-type-specific calcium imaging, hemodynamic imaging, and chemogenetic silencing techniques. During single-whisker stimulation, both PV and SOM activity showed significant spatial co-variation with local blood flow changes across the barrel field. However, chemogenetic silencing of PV interneurons led to variable changes in local blood flow that closely followed excitatory activity, while SOM silencing had comparatively minor effects. The results indicate that NVC primarily reflects the overall activity of the neural circuitry, even when inhibitory signaling is broadly affected.",
  "summary": "Neurovascular coupling (NVC) links neuronal activity to local hemodynamics, underlies functional imaging signals such as fMRI, and is often disrupted in neurological disorders. Although inhibitory interneurons can directly signal to blood vessels, their relative contribution to NVC during sensory processing remains unclear. Here, we combined mesoscale cell-type-specific calcium imaging,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}