Saturday, April 27, 2013

The blood–brain barrier is a functional barrier that prevents the passage of some substances, such as antibiotics and chemical and bacterial toxic matter, from the blood to nerve tissue.

The blood–brain barrier results from the reduced permeability that is characteristic of blood capillaries of nerve tissue. Occluding junctions, which provide continuity between the endothelial cells of these capillaries, represent the main structural component of the barrier. The cytoplasm of these endothelial cells does not have the fenestrations found in many other locations, and very few pinocytotic vesicles are observed. The expansions of neuroglial cell processes that envelop the capillaries (astrocytes) are partly responsible for their low permeability.

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