THE BLOOD-BRAIN-BARRIER - MORPHOLOGY, MOLECULES, AND NEUROTHELIN

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a complex structure formed by vascula r endothelial cells, which serve to stabilize the homeostasic processe s that are essential for neural functioning. The barrier relies on tig ht junctions between neighboring endothelial cells and a highly restri cted passage of blood-borne components through the endothelial lining. Selective transport mechanisms guarantee the essential import and exp ort of metabolites through the BBB into and out of the neural microenv ironment. The dual functions of barrier and carrier depend on distinct proteins, some of which have been characterized in detail.