By Stephen Beech

Stress may lead to altered blood flow in the brain, reveals a new study.

The findings may give vital clues to the exact causes of neurodegenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia, say scientists.

One key characteristic in the brains of patients with such diseases is reduced blood flow.

Now, researchers at Pennsylvania State University have found that a rare neuron that is "extremely vulnerable" to anxiety-induced stress appears to be responsible for regulating blood flow and coordinating neural activity in mice.

The Penn State team found that eliminating type-one nNOS neurons - which make up less than 1% of the brain’s 80 billion neurons and die off when exposed to too much stress - resulted in a drop in both blood flow and electrical activity i

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