Pathways across the vertebrate blood-brain barrier: morphological viewpoints

Form and Function of the Vertebrate and Invertebrate Blood-Brain Barriers

The need to protect neural tissue from toxins or other substances is as old as neural tissue itself. Early recognition of this need has led to more than a century of investigation of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Many aspects of this important neuroprotective barrier have now been well established, including its cellular architecture and barrier and transport functions. Unsurprisingly, most research has had a human orientation, using mammalian and other animal models to develop translational research findings. However, cell layers forming a barrier between vascular spaces and neural tissues are found broadly throughout the invertebrates as well as in all vertebrates. Unfortunately, previous scenarios for the evolution of the BBB typically adopt a classic, now discredited 'scala naturae' approach, which inaccurately describes a putative evolutionary progression of the mammalian BBB from simple invertebrates to mammals. In fact, BBB-like structures have evolved independently numerous times, complicating simplistic views of the evolution of the BBB as a linear process. Here, we review BBBs in their various forms in both invertebrates and vertebrates, with an emphasis on the function, evolution, and conditional relevance of popular animal models such as the fruit fly and the zebrafish to mammalian BBB research.

Expression of caveolin-1 in human brain microvessels

Caveolae are microinvaginations of the cell plasma membrane involved in cell transport and metabolism as well as in signal transduction; these functions depend on the presence of integral proteins named caveolins in the caveolar frame. In the brain, various caveolin subtypes have been detected in vivo by immunocytochemistry: caveolin-1 and -2 were found in rat brain microvessels, caveolin-3 was revealed in astrocytes. The aim of this study was to identify the site(s) of cellular expression of caveolin-1 in the microvessels of the human cerebral cortex by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy and immunogold electron microscopy. Since in the barrier-provided brain microvessels tight relations occur between the endothelium-pericyte layer and the surrounding vascular astrocytes, double immunostaining with caveolin-1 and the astroglia marker, glial fibrillary acidic protein, was also carried out. Immunocytochemistry by confocal microscopy revealed that caveolin-1 is expressed by endothelial cells and pericytes in all the cortex microvessels; caveolin-1 is also expressed by cells located in the neuropil around the microvessels and identified as astrocytes. Study of the cortex microvessels carried out by immunoelectron microscopy confirmed that in the vascular wall caveolin-1 is expressed by endothelial cells, pericytes, and vascular astrocytes, and revealed the association of caveolin-1 with the cell caveolar compartment. The demonstration of caveolin-1 in the cells of the brain microvessels suggests that caveolin-1 may be involved in blood-brain barrier functioning, and also supports co-ordinated activities between these cells.

Ruptura da barreira hematoencefálica após injeção de droga gliotóxica no tronco encefálico de ratos wistar

O brometo de etídio (BE) determina desaparecimento astrocitário local, com ruptura da glia limitans e suposto dano na barreira hematoencefálica (BBB). Este estudo visou avaliar a integridade da BBB após injeção de solução de BE a 0,1% (grupo E) ou de salina a 0,9% (grupo C) na cisterna pontis de ratos Wistar. Fragmentos do tronco encefálico foram coletados das 24 horas aos 31 dias pós-injeção para estudo ultra-estrutural e marcação imuno-histoquímica para a GFAP. Alguns animais receberam carvão coloidal por via intravenosa nos mesmos períodos. Nos ratos do grupo C, não houve sinal de perda astrocitária, nem extravasamento vascular de carvão no sítio da injeção. No grupo E, o desaparecimento astrocitário começou às 48 horas e algumas áreas estavam ainda destituídas de processos astrocíticos 31 dias após. Extravasamento de partículas de carvão nas lesões foi visto de 48 horas até 7 dias, não sendo detectada qualquer alteração ultra-estrutural das junções oclusivas pela falta de astrócitos perivasculares.

Neuropathological changes caused by hydrocephalus

The medical literature concerning neuropathological changes caused by hydrocephalus is reviewed. In both humans and experimental animals the ependyma suffers focal destruction, cerebral blood vessels are distorted and capillaries collapse, there is damage to axons and myelin in the periventricular white matter, and occasionally neurons suffer injury. The damage appears to result from mechanical distortion of the brain combined with impaired cerebral blood flow. If ventriculomegaly develops very early, foci of cortical dysgenesis may be the result. The character and distribution of pathological changes are dependent on the age at which hydrocephalus develops, the rate and magnitude of ventricular enlargement, and the duration of hydrocephalus. Diversionary shunting of cerebrospinal fluid can only incompletely reverse the damage and the potential for reversal diminishes as the duration of hydrocephalus increases.

Transcytosis of macromolecules through the blood-brain barrier: a cell biological perspective and critical appraisal

A critical appraisal is presented of nearly two decades of research publications and review articles advocating the bidirectional transcytosis of fluid-phase molecules, most notably native horseradish peroxidase (HRP), through the normal and experimentally modified blood-brain barrier (BBB). Extracellular routes circumventing the BBB in normal and pathological states and artifact introduced in histological preparation of CNS tissue exposed to blood-borne peroxidase are emphasized. The potential for transcytosis of macromolecules entering the nonfenestrated cerebral endothelium by the processes of non-specific fluid phase endocytosis (e.g., HRP), adsorptive endocytosis (e.g., lectins) and receptor-mediated endocytosis (e.g., ligands) is analyzed in the context of the cellular secretory process and the complimentary events of endocytosis and exocytosis at the luminal and abluminal plasma membranes. Available data suggest that the cerebral endothelium is polarized with regard to endocytosis and the internalization of cell surface membrane; hence, the transcytosis of specific macromolecules through the BBB may be vectorial. If these data are correct, the blood-brain barrier is not absolute, whereas its counterpart, the brain-blood barrier, may be.