Cerebral tissue pO2 response to stimulation is preserved with age in awake mice.

Compromised oxygen supply to cerebral tissue could be an important mechanism contributing to age-related cognition decline. We recently showed in awake mice that resting cerebral tissue pO2 decreases with age, a phenomenon that manifests mainly after middle-age. To extend these findings, here we aimed to study how tissue pO2 response to neuronal stimulation is affected by aging. We used two-photon phosphorescence lifetime microscopy to directly measure the brain tissue pO2 response to whisker stimulation in healthy awake young, middle-aged and old mice. We show that despite a decrease in baseline tissue pO2, the amplitude of the tissue pO2 response to stimulation is well preserved with age. However, the response dynamics are altered towards a slower response with reduced post-stimulus undershoot in older ages, possibly due to stiffer vessel wall among other factors. An estimation of the net oxygen consumption rate using a modified Krogh model suggests that the O2 overshoot during stimulation may be necessary to secure a higher capillary O2 delivery to the tissue proportional to increased CMRO2 to maintain the capillary tissue pO2. It was observed that the coupling between the CMRO2 and capillary O2 delivery is preserved with age.