Furthermore, vascular inflammation was only assessed through studying the extent of perivascular astrogliosis, and future studies including specific markers for vascular inflammation such as immune cells (infiltration), CD68 (expressed by monocytic phagocytes), matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) are needed to further elucidate the relationship between vascular inflammation and/or BBB breakdown in SVD. Here, MMP9 is linked to snowflake vitreoretinal degeneration.