Cerebral Venous Regulation

Abstract

The overwhelming emphasis of the cerebrovascular regulation has been on understanding the artery system; few studies, however, have focused on the cerebral venous regulation, consequently, the modes and characteristics of cerebral venous regulation are largely unknown. Because 70–80% of the cerebral blood volume is located in the veins, the regulation of the cerebral venous system is as important as the cerebral artery system, especially in attenuating intracranial pressure, cerebral edema and hemorrhagic transformation. In this article, we will try to prove the presence of cerebral venous regulation from direct and indirect evidence. Furthermore, we analyzed the characteristics of the cerebral venous system from neurovascular coupling, cerebral autoregulation and cerebrovascular reactivity. From previous studies, we have come to the conclusion that the cerebral venous system may also have a vascular regulating function, which relates to the occurrence, development and prognosis of diseases. Like the cerebral arterial system, neurovascular coupling, cerebral autoregulation, and cerebrovascular reactivity can act as three evaluation indexes in cerebral venous regulation. The integrated cerebrovascular regulation, including cerebral arterial regulation and cerebral venous regulation, is a more reasonable method of evaluating cerebrovascular function.