![]() ![]() ![]() The blood-brain barrier is made of tightly interlaced cells-endothelial cells, pericytes, and astrocytes-lining the blood vessels of the brain and spinal cord that make up the central nervous system. In doing so, researchers may be able to develop more effective ways of delivering cancer or psychiatric medicines into the brain and better strategies for combating barrier damage caused by neurodegeneration or stroke. If replicated in further animal testing and eventually in humans, the findings could help scientists control the permeability of the blood-brain barrier. Working in zebrafish and mice, the team discovered that a signal originating from a gene in neurons is essential for the proper formation of the blood-brain barrier during embryonic development and helps ensure that the barrier remains intact throughout adulthood. Now, a new Harvard Medical School study, published July 11 in Developmental Cell, has brought scientists a step closer to figuring it out. Understanding how the barrier works to allow in or keep out certain substances has critical implications for everything from disease progression to drug delivery.
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