Morphofunctional aspects of the normal and pathological blood-brain barrier.

Abstract

Compared with other organs of the body the brain and spinal cord show unique behaviour as far as the exchange of metabolites to and from the blood is concerned. This peculiarity has led to the concept of the so-called “blood-brain barrier” (BBB). The concept is useful not only when dealing with questions of metabolic exchange in general but more specifically for understanding the mechanism of the production of and the changes in the cerebral spinal fluid; the permeability of the brain for toxins, viruses and antibodies; and, finally, the capability of various drugs to reach the brain. The pathologist is often confronted with blood-brain barrier function since blood pigments appear in the cerebrospinal fluid in certain diseases. For example, in neonatal jaundice the yellow pigment reaches the orain because of an insufficiently developed blood-brain barrier; the phenomenon cannot be found in adults.KeywordsTight JunctionBrain EdemaBrain CapillaryNeonatal JaundiceCerebral CapillaryThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.