The Blood-Brain Barrier: Composition, Properties, and Roles in Brain Health
Author: Baptiste Lacoste1,2,3, Alexandre Prat4, Moises Freitas-Andrade5, Chenghua Gu6
Affiliation:
1 Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Neuroscience Program, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8M5, Canada blacoste@uottawa.ca Chenghua_Gu@hms.harvard.edu.
2 Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8M5, Canada.
3 University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8M5, Canada.
4 Department of Neuroscience, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec H2X 0A9, Canada.
5 Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Neuroscience Program, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8M5, Canada.
6 Department of Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA blacoste@uottawa.ca Chenghua_Gu@hms.harvard.edu.
Conference/Journal: Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol
Date published: 2024 Jul 1
Other:
Pages: a041422 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041422. , Word Count: 162
Blood vessels are critical to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues and organs throughout the body. The blood vessels that vascularize the central nervous system (CNS) possess unique properties, termed the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which allow these vessels to tightly regulate the movement of ions, molecules, and cells between the blood and the brain. This precise control of CNS homeostasis allows for proper neuronal function and protects the neural tissue from toxins and pathogens, and alterations of this barrier are important components of the pathogenesis and progression of various neurological diseases. The physiological barrier is coordinated by a series of physical, transport, and metabolic properties possessed by the brain endothelial cells (ECs) that form the walls of the blood vessels. These properties are regulated by interactions between different vascular, perivascular, immune, and neural cells. Understanding how these cell populations interact to regulate barrier properties is essential for understanding how the brain functions in both health and disease contexts.
PMID: 38951020 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041422
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