Sex shapes capillary flows and oxygen extraction in the middle-aged mouse brain
Eugenio Gutiérrez‐Jiménez, Boris Wied, Thomas Beck Lindhardt, Signe H. Mikkelsen, Rasmus West Knopper, Christian Stald Skoven, Oliver Bundgaard Christensen, Vitalii Dashkovskyi, Filip Mrotek, Peter Mondrup Rasmussen, Maria Hovmann Andresen, Aleksandar J. Krmpot, Mirna El Khatib, Sergei A. Vinogradov, Sava Sakadžić, , Leif Østergaard
The paper shows that female mice have higher cortical blood flow and reduced oxygen extraction fraction in middle age, with molecular and structural differences in white matter and microglial reactivity, without differences in systemic markers.
bioRxiv · Oct 18, 2026 · PreprintNeuroscience