{"id":"https://openalex.org/G5927856438","display_name":"Molecular Determinants of Cerebrovascular Aging","description":"Aging is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases. Due to the progressively aging population we will soon be faced with a major healthcare challenge. Yet, no direct therapeutical strategy is available to address this issue. Alike cardiovascular disease, the incidence of cerebrovascular disease (CBVD) increases dramatically with age and its consequences are often even more serious. The true incidence of CBVD may be underestimated as some presently considered neurological disorders are thought to have an important vascular basis e.g. dementia. Some advances were made in studying aging of the peripheral circulation however hardly anything is known concerning aging of the cerebral arteries. Molecular regulation of systemic vs. cerebral arteries differs considerably thus, proteins playing a key role in the aging of systemic arteries may not be equally crucial for cerebral arteries or vice versa. The increased production of free radicals observed with aging is generally considered the key mediator of aging-induced diseases. Several target proteins implicated in free radicals, have been studied in the context of aging and particularly the adaptor protein p66Shc, the MAP Kinase JNK and PKCbeta were shown to be implicated in vascular aging. Genetic manipulation of these proteins proved effective in delaying aging and/or preventing aging-induced diseases of the peripheral vasculature. However, few information are available concerning the role of the same targets proteins in the cerebral vasculature of aged organisms.The aims of this project include: (1) To determine whether vascular function is impaired in the cerebral vasculature before the peripheral one at a given age (2) To determine the molecular pathways involved in vascular aging of cerebral arteries with a specific focus on p66Shc, JNK and PKCbeta (3) To establish the role, the type and the source of ROS on age-dependent dysfunction of mouse cerebral arteries (4) To establish the role of endothelial dysfunction in cerebral ischemia in mice in vivo.Conclusions: Due to increasing life expectancy, Western populations are aging and in Switzerland alone there will be a 10% increase in people aged 65 or over by the year 2050. Consequences of aging-induced CBVD are very serious and often lead to irreversible disability, thus the need for novel scientific advances in this field is imperative. Elucidating the mechanisms mediating CBV aging and aging-induced CBVD will set ground for the future possibility to design novel therapies aimed at the treatment of important diseases such as stroke and dementia. ","funder_award_id":"130500","funder":{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320320924","display_name":"Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur F\u00f6rderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung","doi":"10.13039/501100001711"},"funded_outputs":["https://openalex.org/W1988371749","https://openalex.org/W2150092076","https://openalex.org/W2170221270","https://openalex.org/W6911264166"],"funded_outputs_count":4,"parent_awards":[],"sub_awards":[],"sub_awards_count":0,"amount":192000.0,"currency":"CHF","amount_usd":164546.29,"amount_usd_basis":"daily_rate","recipients":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I202697423","display_name":"University of Zurich","ror":"https://ror.org/02crff812","country_code":"CH","roles":["lead"],"share":null,"basis":"affiliation_matcher","asserted_by":"funder"}],"recipient_countries":[{"country_code":"CH","share":1.0,"amount_usd":164546.29,"basis":"organisation_location"}],"recipient_regions":[],"research_scope":{"is_research":true,"basis":"funder_default","tier":1},"funding_type":"research","funder_scheme":"Project funding","start_date":"2010-06-01","end_date":"2012-05-31","start_year":2010,"end_year":2012,"landing_page_url":"https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/130500","doi":null,"provenance":"snsf","lead_investigator":{"given_name":"Camici,","family_name":"Giovanni","orcid":null,"role_start":null,"affiliation":{"name":"University of Zurich \u2013 ZH","country":"Switzerland","ids":null}},"co_lead_investigator":null,"investigators":null,"works_api_url":"https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=awards.id:G5927856438","primary_topic":null,"topics":null,"institution_awarded":[],"updated_date":"2026-10-17T03:01:12.000Z","created_date":"2026-07-13T04:27:35.000Z"}