Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective semipermeable border of endothelial cells that regulates the transfer of solutes and chemicals between the circulatory system and the central nervous system, thus protecting the brain from harmful or unwanted substances in the blood. [1]
MPTP itself is not toxic, but it is a lipophilic compound and can therefore cross the blood–brain barrier. Once inside the brain, MPTP is metabolized into the toxic cation 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP +) [5] by the enzyme monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) of glial cells, specifically astrocytes. MPP + kills primarily dopamine-producing neurons ...
A principal function of pericytes is to interact with astrocytes, smooth muscle cells, and other intracranial cells to form the blood brain barrier and to modulate the size of blood vessels to ensure proper delivery and distribution of oxygen and nutrients to neuronal tissues. Pericytes have both cholinergic (α2) and adrenergic (β2) receptors ...
A group from the University of Oxford led by Prof. Matthew Wood claims that exosomes can cross the blood–brain barrier and deliver siRNAs, antisense oligonucleotides, chemotherapeutic agents and proteins specifically to neurons after inject them systemically (in blood). Because these exosomes are able to cross the blood–brain barrier, this ...
The constrained intracellular pathway exacted by the tight junction barrier system allows precise control over which substances can pass through a particular tissue (e.g. the blood–brain barrier). At the present time, it is still unclear whether the control is active or passive and how these pathways are formed.
L-DOPA, a precursor of dopamine that crosses the blood–brain barrier, is used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. For depressed patients where low activity of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine is implicated, there is only little evidence for benefit of neurotransmitter precursor administration.
The circle of Willis (also called Willis' circle, loop of Willis, cerebral arterial circle, and Willis polygon) is a circulatory anastomosis that supplies blood to the brain and surrounding structures in reptiles, birds and mammals, including humans. [1] It is named after Thomas Willis (1621–1675), an English physician. [2]
Peptide hormones have important influences upon the hypothalamus, and to do so they must pass through the blood–brain barrier. The hypothalamus is bounded in part by specialized brain regions that lack an effective blood–brain barrier; the capillary endothelium at these sites is fenestrated to allow free passage of even large proteins and ...