Transcriptomic Profiling Reveals Discrete Poststroke Dementia Neuronal and Gliovascular Signatures

Around 25% of stroke survivors over 65 years old develop progressive cognitive decline more than 3 months post-stroke, with features of vascular dementia. Poststroke dementia (PSD) is associated with pathology in frontal brain regions, in particular dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) neurons and white matter, remote from the infarct, implicating damage to anterior cognitive circuits (ACC) involved in impaired executive function. We hypothesised that PSD results from progressive neuronal damage in the DLPFC and that this is associated with alterations in the gliovascular unit (GVU) of frontal white matter. We aimed to identify the cellular and molecular basis of PSD by investigating the transcriptomic profile of the neurons and white matter GVU cells previously implicated in pathology. Laser capture microdissected neurons, astrocytes and endothelial cells were obtained from the Cognitive Function After Stroke (COGFAST) cohort. Gene expression was assessed using microarrays and pathways analysis to compare changes in PSD with controls and with poststroke non-dementia (PSND). Laser captured microdissected neurons were obtained from the bilateral carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) model and equivalent SHAM animals Control (n=10), PSD (n=10) and Post-stroke non dementia (PSND) (n=10) human subjects. Sham Group (n=5) and Bilateral carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) gorup (n=5)