Visual experience-driven switch in endothelial metabolic transporters is essential for cerebrovascular maturation

Visual experience drives a metabolic switch in brain endothelial cells by decreasing MCT1 and increasing GLUT1, and this MCT1-to-GLUT1 transition is essential for cerebrovascular maturation and BBB integrity.

• Why it matters: Neuronal activity is required for postnatal cerebrovascular development, but how it is translated into endothelial metabolic programs coordinating BBB maturation was unknown.
• What they did: The study tested whether sensory experience alters endothelial transporter expression, showing that sustained endothelial MCT1 expression impairs vascular development and BBB maturation; it also linked the switch to developmental TGF-beta signaling decline and lactate-dependent TGF-beta1 autocrine feedback.
• The result: Developmental decline in TGF-beta signaling drives the MCT1-to-GLUT1 transition, while endothelial-derived TGF-beta1 reinforces an immature angiogenic state via lactate-dependent positive feedback, and sensory experience promotes astrocyte maturation that attenuates endothelial TGF-beta signaling.