Where the Heart Meets the Brain: Funding the Future of Prevention and Care

By Alison Palmer, Evaluation and Special Projects Lead 

The average adult brain is roughly 2% of total body weight. But the brain receives approximately 20% of the blood pumped by the heart.

The brain influences the heart; emotional states like sadness and joy can influence heart rhythms and blood pressure. And the heart sends signals back to the brain through nerves and hormones, affecting things like mood, attention, and stress levels.

And increasingly, researchers are starting to view disorders such as high blood pressure as neurological conditions, where the brain is both a cause and an early victim of chronic disease.

This interconnection is why Brain Canada, together with partners and donors, has made strategic investments to advance research at the intersection of heart and brain research. Driven by the One Brain approach, Brain Canada has encouraged researchers to take risks and break down silos, to establish new ways of thinking and collaborating, and to shift existing paradigms and open entirely new lines of inquiry. 

The result is a series of discoveries that are improving prevention and care and moving us towards a future where heart health and brain health are approached as one.

Strengthening the blood–brain barrier protects against anxiety and depression

For decades, scientists have searched for the biological roots of stress resilience in neurons. With support from a Brain Canada Future Leaders grant, Dr. Caroline Ménard at l’Université Laval turned to the blood–brain barrier — the protective border linking the brain with the blood vessels, powered by the heart, and the immune system. Her team found that chronic stress weakens this barrier, allowing inflammation to enter the brain and increase vulnerability to anxiety and depression. Resilience occurs when barrier integrity is maintained, supported by higher levels of CB1 receptors on astrocytes, the star-shaped cells lining the barrier. Increasing these receptors in mice reduced stress-related behaviours, and exercise and effective antidepressants were also linked to higher CB1 levels. The findings identify a promising new therapeutic target for depression and anxiety.

“We don’t only feel emotion in our brain; we feel it in our gut, we feel it in other systems. That’s why we study the blood-brain barrier – it connects the brain with the immune system, with the vascular system, and with all the hormones that circulate in the blood.”

“Our understanding of those interconnections and their influence on health is advancing, and we’re developing tools in the lab to facilitate that.”
– Dr. Caroline Ménard

Read more about stress resilience and the blood-brain barrier here.

Blood vessels contribute to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias

Small vessel disease (SVD) — damage to the brain’s tiny blood vessels — is a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. In turn, Alzheimer’s can cause SVD by contributing to the build-up of a protein called beta-amyloid in the brain’s blood vessels. Preventing the damage caused by these brain conditions requires understanding the biology linking the two. With support from Brain Canada and the Alzheimer’s Association, Dr. Walter Swardfager explored precisely this. He and his team at the University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Research Institute discovered several variations in the genome that make some people more vulnerable to brain shrinkage when SVD is present. Targeting these genes could open several doors to new treatments to slow or prevent dementia progression.

“We’re now submitting and receiving grants that build on the science in this area and may take us all the way to clinical trials. It’s been tremendous.”
– Dr. Walter Swardfager

Read more about small vessel disease and Alzheimer’s here.

How a drug delivered by ambulance is changing stroke treatment

Strokes are often considered “brain attacks”; similar to heart attacks, they’re caused by a disruption of blood flow or bleeding in the vessels that supply the brain. For decades, researchers have searched for neuroprotective drugs that can protect brain tissue in the critical window between stroke onset and hospital treatment. Despite more than 200 clinical trials, early promise from animal studies had never translated to patients — until now. Co-funded by Brain Canada, the FRONTIER trial led by Dr. Jim Christenson at the University of British Columbia tested the drug Nerinetide by delivering it in the ambulance, immediately after symptoms began — an unprecedented approach in Canada. Published in The Lancet, the study showed that neuroprotection in humans is both possible and beneficial, and identified which stroke patients are most likely to benefit. The findings bring this long-sought therapy closer to clinical practice, with the potential to improve outcomes for thousands of stroke patients.

“We’re incredibly proud to have supported such an ambitious project. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide – one in four adults will have a stroke in their lifetime.”

“These game-changing results will bring hope to millions of people around the world.”
– Dr. Viviane Poupon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Brain Canada

Read more about the FRONTIER trial here.

Other critical projects underway at the heart-brain interface

The Heart–Brain Connection IMPACT Awards

Funded in partnership with Heart & Stroke, these awards are transforming how heart and brain diseases are understood and treated. One project led by Dr. Peter Liu is closing the gap between cardiac and cognitive care by developing blood tests, advanced imaging, and new therapies to predict and protect against combined heart–brain risk. Another led by Dr. Douglas Lee and Dr. Gustavo Saposnik is advancing early detection of stroke, heart failure, and vascular dementia using artificial intelligence and innovative diagnostics. Together, these projects integrate clinical expertise, patient partnership, and Indigenous engagement to prevent disability, improve early intervention, and fundamentally reshape care for interconnected heart and brain conditions.

Congenital Heart Disease Team Grant

Dr. Thalia Field is investigating how being born with a heart defect affects brain health throughout life. Congenital heart disease occurs in 1% of births, and medical advances now enable 90% of these children to survive to adulthood— which has created a growing population with lifelong health challenges and unknown long-term risks to brain health. With support from Heart & Stroke, Brain Canada, and CIHR’s Institutes of Circulatory and Respiratory Health and Genetics, Dr. Field and her team are mapping brain health trajectories by analyzing existing data, following children with repeat brain imaging, and examining sex-based differences in stroke risk and cognitive and psychological impacts.

Research Networks of Excellence in Women’s Heart and Brain Health

The pan-Canadian research network called StrokeGoRed is funded in partnership between Heart & Stroke, Brain Canada, and CIHR’s Institute of Gender and Health. Led by Dr. Amy Yu and involving over 50 collaborators, StrokeGoRed is addressing critical gaps in stroke research by studying sex and gender differences in prevention, care, and recovery. After decades of male-dominated studies that inadequately represented women’s unique stroke experiences, the network will fill knowledge gaps that will inform more personalized, inclusive stroke care that better serves all patients.