Neurovascular pathophysiology in cerebral ischemia, dementia and the ageing brain – current trends in basic, translational and clinical research

Vascular disorders of the human brain are a common precondition and a relevant factor of influence for some of the most devastating neurological conditions like stroke and dementia – globally burdening patients, families, and the health care systems. Significant advances have been made regarding our understanding of central pathophysiological aspects of these diseases, as well as possible strategies to counter them. However, we yet have been unable to translate hopeful experimental findings into the clinics to augment the existing, but limited therapeutic options. In the context of ageing industrialized societies with an increasing prevalence of important risk factors like diabetes and arterial hypertension as well as the limited resources for health care worldwide, diseases affecting the cerebral vasculature are one of the most relevant global health problems. Thus, there is an increasing and still unmet need for an even better understanding of stroke and dementia in order to derive novel therapeutic approaches that clearly have the potential to be of benefit for patients.The 7th International Symposium on Neuroprotection and Neurorepair (7th ISN&N) was held from May 2nd to May 5th at the Templin Lake in Potsdam, Germany. In continuation of the Magdeburg meeting series and the 6th ISN&N [1], the meeting was organized jointly by four German institutes, the Fraunhofer Institute of Cell Therapy and Immunology (Leipzig), the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) of the Helmholtz Society as well as Institute for Neurobiochemistry from the Medical faculty of the Otto-von-Guericke-University (all Magdeburg). A central objective of the 7th ISN&N was to widen the scientific scope of the meeting series from stroke to dementia and more generally the ageing brain, primarily focusing on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia. This paper reviews some of the most interesting findings being presented at the 7th ISN&N an