The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is composed of brain capillary endothelial cells and has an important role in maintaining homeostasis of the brain separating the blood from the parenchyma of the central nervous system (CNS). It is widely known that disruption of the BBB occurs in various neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Annexin A1 (ANXA1), an anti-inflammatory messe...

Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) can be opened locally, noninvasively and reversibly by low frequency focused ultra-sound (FUS) in the presence of microbubbles. In this study, Evans blue (EB) dye extravasation across BBB was enhanced by 1 MHz FUS at acoustic pressure of 0.35 MPa in the presence of microbubbles at clinically comparable dosage. The spatial distribution of EB extravasation was visualized...

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is formed by epithelial-like high resistance tight junctions within the endothelium of capillaries perfusing the vertebrate brain. Because of the presence of the BBB, circulating molecules gain access to brain cells only via one of two processes: (i) lipid-mediated transport of small molecules through the BBB by free diffusion, or (ii) catalyzed transport. The latt...

Focused ultrasound (FUS) is hereby shown to noninvasively and selectively deliver compounds at pharmacologically relevant molecular weights through the opened blood-brain barrier (BBB). A complete examination on the size of the FUS-induced BBB opening, the spatial distribution of the delivered agents and its dependence on the agent's molecular weight were imaged and quantified using fluorescenc...

Good in vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) models that mimic the in vivo BBB phenotype are essential for studies on BBB functionality and for initial screening in drug discovery programmes, as many potential therapeutic drug candidates have poor BBB permeation. Difficulties associated with the availability of human brain tissue, coupled with the time and cost associated with using animals for this...

Let $E$ be an elliptic curve over $Bbb{Q}$ with the given Weierstrass equation $ y^2=x^3+ax+b$. If $D$ is a squarefree integer, then let $E^{(D)}$ denote the $D$-quadratic twist of $E$ that is given by $E^{(D)}: y^2=x^3+aD^2x+bD^3$. Let $E^{(D)}(Bbb{Q})$ be the group of $Bbb{Q}$-rational points of $E^{(D)}$. It is conjectured by J. Silverman that there are infinitely many primes $p$ for which $...

The brain vasculature has several specific features, one of them being the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which supports and protects by allowing for passage oxygen nutrients, while at same time preventing pathogens toxins. BBB also prevents efficient delivery drugs to brain, e.g. treatment tumors. In murine perivascular fibroblasts were recently identified as a novel potential constituent BBB. Her...

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) presents a major obstacle to the treatment of malignant brain tumors and other central nervous system (CNS) diseases. For this reason, a meeting partially funded by an NIH R13 grant was convened to discuss recent advances and future directions in translational research in neuro-oncology and the BBB. Cell biology and transport across the BBB, delivery of agents to t...

The delivery of hydrophilic drugs to the brain is limited by the various barriers in the brain. In this respect, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is the most important barrier because it functions as a physical and metabolic barrier represented by the endothelial cells of brain capillaries. In order to treat brain diseases, drugs must pass the BBB by targeting them to internalizing transport syste...

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) presents a significant obstacle to delivery of targeted therapies to brain tumors. In this issue of the JCI, Staquicini and colleagues apply an in vivo phage-displayed library of random peptides to identify differentially expressed peptides that can be used to transport targeted agents across the intact BBB. The authors uncover a non-canonical, peptide-mediated iro...