Anatomy and physiology of the blood-brain barrier
Open accessAbstract
Essential requisite for the preservation of normal brain activity is to maintain a narrow and stable homeostatic control in the neuronal environment of the CNS. Blood flow alterations and altered vessel permeability are considered key determinants in the pathophysiology of brain injuries. We will review the present-day literature on the anatomy, development and physiological mechanisms of the blood-brain barrier, a distinctive and tightly regulated interface between the CNS and the peripheral circulation, playing a crucial role in the maintenance of the strict environment required for normal brain function.
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The BBB forms a dynamic, blood-and-brain-regulated, strict physical, transport, metabolic, and immunologic barrier while it is permeable to O2 and CO2 and other gaseous molecules, as well as water and other lipid soluble substances; the barrier is very restrictive to large molecules.
“This is primarily due to the BBB forming a dynamic, blood-and-brain-regulated, strict physical, transport, metabolic, and immunologic barrier while it is permeable to O2 and CO2 and other gaseous molecules, as well as water and other lipid soluble substances (Serlin et al., 2015), the barrier is very restrictive to large molecules.”
From Human Brain/Cloud Interface (2019) · cites this paper as Serlin et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Serlin, Y., Shelef, I., Knyazer, B., & Friedman, A.
- Affiliations
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Friedman, Alon
- Venue
- Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-02
- Volume
- 38
- Pages
- 2-6
- ISSN
- 1084-9521 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4397166
- OpenAlex
- W2047459797
- Semantic Scholar
- 6d2a62f27c361b1284588d5d5030dcd5ea7d97d2
- Cited by
- 397
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 60 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 47 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 6
- FWCI
- 2.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS066005)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Barrier Structure and Function Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Drug Transport and Resistance Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Ion Transport and Channel Regulation
- Keywords
- blood-brain barrier, blood-brain barrier development, cerebral blood flow, vascular permeability, brain homeostasis, brain injury pathophysiology
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biological Transport, Blood-Brain Barrier, Brain, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Humans, Endothelial Cells
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