Issue Cover (March 2018)

Front cover:Guest Editor: Lisa M. Münter McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. E‐mail: lisa.munter@mcgill.ca Imaging the Microvascular Network of the Cortical Mantle. This review discusses how small cerebral venules could be a locus of occlusion during vascular dementia, contributing to cerebral microinfarcts, and potentially adding to brain dysfunction during cognitive impairment. Rodent models have provided clues to the consequence of occluding single penetrating venules in cortex. The image on the left is an extracted rat brain after transcardially perfusing a fluorescent gel. It shows both arteriole and venous networks on the dorsal surface of the brain. The image in the middle was captured in vivo through a cranial window using two‐photon microscopy. It shows pseudocolored arterioles (red) and venules (blue) on the pial surface of the rat somatosensory cortex. The image on the right shows a magnified view of in vivo two‐photon imaging data. Note how the pial arterioles and venules often branch and then end. These branch endings are points of penetrating into the cortical mantle to feed the underlying capillaries of the parechyma (white). Preclinical studies have shown that the obstruction of either penetrating arteriole or penetrating venule leads to cortical microinfarction. Image Source: Pictures taken by the authors.Read the full article ‘Does the pathology of small venules contribute to brain microinfarcts and dementia?’ by D. A. Hartmann, H. I. Hyacinth, F‐F. Liao, A. Y. Shih ( J. Neurochem . 2018, vol. 144(5), pp. 517–526) on doi: 10.1111/jnc.14228