Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Blood-Brain Barrier
- Purpose?
- - Minimize the risk of irreplaceable brain damage
- keep out most viruses, bacteria, and harmful
chemicals
- However!
- ¥ Some viruses do cross the Blood-brain
barrier
- What Happen then?
- - Rabies virus invades the barrier -> infection -> death
- Syphilis-> long lasting consequence
- What can Microglia do ?
- - It is effective against certain other viruses. - Increase inflammatory
responses -> fight a virus w/o killing the neuron.
- However!
- This response may control the virus without eliminating it.
Chicken pox virus enters spinal cored -> remain there long after
they have been destroyed -> the virus may emerge decades later
-> shingles.
- How does it work?
- Depends on Endothelial Cells
- outside the brain: separated by small gaps
- in the brain: joined so tightly that they block
viruses, bacteria and other harmful chemicals
- Why we don't have similar walls around all other organs?
- - the barrier block useful chemical as well
as harmful ones. - useful chemical include
all fuels and normal flora, amino acids, the
building blocks for proteins
- How the useful chemical enters the brain?
- protein channels for H2O crossing
- small, uncharged molecules
cross freely (O2, Co2)
- Active transport: a protein-mediated process that
use up energy to pump chemicals from the blood
into the brain (e.g. Glucose, amino acids, purines,
choline, a few vitamins, irons, and certain
hormones
- Dissolvant molecules in the fats of the membrane
cross easily, (e.g. Vitamins A and D, all drugs that
effect the brain.