Hypertension and Its Impact on Stroke Recovery: From a Vascular to a Parenchymal Overview

Figure 1

Nonvascular consequences of long-term hypertension and after IS. After IS, hypertension promotes a proinflammatory state by polarizing microglia into a M1-phenotype, thus leading to an astrocyte dysfunction and a decreased neurogenesis and increased neuronal death. Overall, hypertension and IS lead to worse functional outcome and vascular cognitive impairment after IS. On the abscissa level, the age corresponds to the average age of hypertension development and first stroke. MPF: medial prefrontal cortex; AQP4: aquaporine 4; NO: nitric oxide; IL: interleukin; PVN: paraventricular nucleus; SBP: systolic blood pressure.