Abstract
The properties of the blood-brain barrier are those of the capillary endothelium in brain. This endothelium contrasts with that elsewhere in being sealed with tight junctions, having a high electrical resistance and low permeability to polar solutes. It is exceptional in having a paucity of pits and vesicles, a specialised enzyme content and a high density of mitochondria. Functionally, a range of transport mechanisms allow rapid movement of certain specific metabolic substrates. Ion pumps are concerned with secretion of brain interstitial fluid and regulation of its ionic concentration. The retinal capillaries are largely identical to those of the brain, but entry of solutes into retina is also determined by the properties of the pigment epithelium, functionally separating the retina from the highly vascular choroid. A clear difference lies in the greater resistance of cerebral micro vessels to diabetic damage. The mechanism of this difference is unclear, but may relate to a better control of the brain interstitial fluid at a lower glucose concentration than is possible in the retinal interstitial fluid.
Article PDF
References
Rapoport SI : Blood-brain barrier in physiology and Medicine. New York. Raven, 1976.
Bradbury MWB : The concept of a blood-brain barrier. Chichester. John Wiley, 1979.
Fenstermacher JD and Rapoport SI : Blood-brain barrier. In Rankin EM, Michel CC, eds. Hand-book of Physiology. Section 2: The Cardiovascular System. Vol. IV: Microcirculation. Bethesda. American Physiological Society, 1984: 969–1000.
Bradbury MWB : The blood-brain barrier: transport across the cerebral endothelium. Circ Res. 1985; 57: 213–22.
Davson H, Welch K, Segal MB : The physiology and pathophysiology of the cerebrospinal fluid. Edinburgh. Churchill Livingstone 1987.
Neuwell EA, ed: Implications of the blood-brain barrier and its manipulation. Vol 1. Basic science aspects. New York & London Plenum 1989.
Brightman W : The anatomic basis of the blood-brain barrier. In EA Neuwelt, ed. Implications of the blood-brain barrier and its manipulation. Vol. 1. New York & London. Plenum, 1989: 53–83.
Huttner I, Bontet M, More RH : Gap junctions in arterial endothelium. J Cell Biol 1973; 57: 247–52.
Deane R and Bradbury MWB : Transport of lead-203 at the blood-brain barrier during short cerebrovascular perfusion with saline in the rat. J Neurochem. 1989; (In Press.)
Oldendorf WH, Brown WJ : Greater number of capillary endothelial mitochondria in brain than in muscle. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1975; 149: 736–8.
Stewart PA, Wiley MJ : Developing nervous tissue induces formation of blood-brain barrier characteristics in invading endothelial cells: a study using quail-chick transplantation chimeras. Dev Biol 1981; 84: 183–92.
Janzer RC, Raff MC : Astrocytes induce blood-brain barrier properties in endothelial cells. Nature 1987; 325: 253–6.
Crone C, Olesen, SP : Electrical resistance of brain microvascular endothelium. Brain Res, 1982; 241: 49–55.
Crone C : Lack of selectivity to small ions in paracellular pathways in cerebral and muscle capillaries of the frog. J Physiol (Lond) 1984; 353: 317–37.
Baldwin SA, Brewster F, Cairns MT, G diner RM, Ruggier R : Identification of a D-glucoselsensitive cytochalasin B-binding component of isolated ovine cerebral micro-vessles. J Physiol (Lond) 1984; 375: 75P.
Dick APK, Harik SI, Klip A et al.: Identification and characterization of the glucose transporter of the blood-brain barrier by cytochalasin B binding and immunological reactivity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1984; 81: 7233–7.
Crone C, Gjedde A . Blood-brain glucose transfer: repression in chronic hyperglycaemia. Science 1981; 214: 456–7.
Hargreaves RJ, Planas AM, Cremer JE, Cunningham VJ : Studies on the relationship between cerebral glucose transport and phosphorylation using 2-deoxy-glucose. J Cerebr Blood Flow Metab 1986; 6: 708–16.
Gjedde A : Modulation of substrate transport to the brain. Acta Neurol Scand 1983; 67: 3–25.
Sarna GS, Bradbury MWB, Cremer JE, Lai JCK, Teal HM, Lai JCK, Teal HM : Permeability of the blood-brain barrier after portocaval anastomosis in the rat. Brain Res 1979; 160: 69–83.
Palm E : On the occurrence in the retina of conditions corresponding to the blood-brain barrier. Acta Ophthalmol 1947; 25: 29–33.
Lightman SL, Palestine AG, Rapoport SI, Rechtand E : Quantitative assessment of the permeability of the rat blood-retinal barrier to small water-soluble non-electrolytes. J Physiol (Lond) 1987; 389: 483–90.
Betz AL, Bowman PD, Goldstine GW : Hexose transport in microvascular endothelial cells cultured from bovine retina. Exp Eye Res 1983; 36: 269–77.
Tornquist P : Carrier-mediated transport of amino acids through the blood-retinal and blood-brain barriers. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 1986; 224: 21–5.
Cunha-Vaz JG, Shakib M, Ashton N : Studies on the permeability of the blood retinal barrier. I. On the existence, development and site of a blood-retinal barrier. Br J Ophthalmol 1966; 50: 441–53.
Bundgaard: Ultrastructure of frog cerebral and pail microvessels and their impermeability to lanthanum ions. Brain Res 1982; 24: 57–65.
Johnson PC, Doll SC, Cromey DW : Pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Ann Neurol 1986; 19: 450–7.
Mukai N, Hori S, Pomeroy M : Cerebral lesions in rats with streptozotocin induced diabetes. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 1980; 51: 79–84.
Lorenzi M, Karam JH, McIlroy MB, Forsham PH : Increased growth hormone response to dopamine infusion in insulin-dependent diabetic subjects: indication of possible blood-brain barrier abnormality. J Clin Invest 1980; 65: 146–53.
Pinter GG, Wilson PD, Yuen LSL : Microvascular permeability in experimental diabetes in the rat; kidney, heart and skeletal muscle. J Physiol (Lond) 1989; 417: 47P.
Bradbury MWB, Lightman SL, Pinter GG : Microvascular permeability in experimental diabetes in the anaesthetized rat; brain, optic nerve and sciatic nerve. J Physiol (Lond) 1989; 417: 48P.
Lightman SL and Yuen L : Blood-retinal barrier permeability in the streptozotocin diabetic rat. J Physiol (Lond) 1989 417: 49P.
Lorenzi M, Healy DP, Hawkins R, Printz JM, Printz MP : Studies on the permeability of the blood brain barrier in experimental diabetes. Diabetologia 1986; 29: 58–62.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bradbury, M., Lightman, S. The blood-brain interface. Eye 4, 249–254 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1990.36
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1990.36
This article is cited by
-
Polymers for extended-release administration
Biomedical Microdevices (2019)
-
From Pathobiology to the Targeting of Pericytes for the Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy
Current Diabetes Reports (2015)