Every day you use your brain to accomplish many tasks. You eat, think, drive a car, work, write emails, and send text messages. While you are doing all these things, you probably do not think about the shield of tightly packed cells, known as the blood-brain barrier, which is protecting your brain from harmful toxins and other substances. The human brain is well protected. The skull obviously shields the brain from outside impacts. Not so well known is the protection "on the inside": a barrier is present between the blood circulation and the brain, the so-called blood-brain barrier (BBB).
A network of closely sealed endothelial cells in the brain’s capillaries forms the blood-brain barrier. It expresses a high level of proteins that pump foreign molecules away from the brain, while allowing others (such as glucose and insulin) that are necessary for the brain cells to function to cross the barrier. The BBB is a highly sophisticated organ that acts as a computer firewall. It selectively allows nutrients into the brain, while keeping out harmful components. However, in its task of protecting the chemistry of the brain, the BBB also betrays it by barricading many compounds that might help in diagnosis or treatment.
The BBB is essential to health. It plays a critical role in your health, but many have asked, “Why would teams of researchers and physicians want to break through it?” Yes, the BBB is known to protect us from harmful components, but by breaking through the BBB, it can help people who are fighting cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other serious neurologic diseases. While protecting the brain from potentially harmful chemicals, the BBB also keeps medications out. Scientists have spent decades searching for ways to breach the barrier just long enough for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or antitumor drugs to slip through the defenses. Now, researchers say they finally have a breakthrough known as microbubbles.
Microbubbles are only the latest and most promising in a string of recent projects aimed at solving the blood-brain barrier problem. These include running a catheter into the brain capillaries and designing a whole suite of drugs that would trick the brain into letting them cross. Although the new results might offer a viable way to sneak medicines past the blood-brain barrier, such an approach would need to be thoroughly tested for each disease and drug. Although the road seems promising, there is still a long way to go.
This video is based on microbubbles and how it helps the blood-brain barrier. Enjoy!
i agree and found that your post has a lot of information about the BBB. there are also some factors that change and break the BBB. for example the way we eat, exercise also the age some diseases like Alzheimer or Parkinson. but there are also factors that will help them repair the BBB.
ReplyDeleteVery well executed. It seems you researched the topic extensively and shared the proper information. If I hadn't already read the book and possessed the knowledge about the topic, your description would have definitely educated wonderfully. It was informative, relatable in a sense that you explained in a simple manner, which made it easy to comprehend, and you expressed your opinions as well. The image used was colorfully artistic and perfect in expressing your topic –the brain-.
ReplyDeleteIt was great that you linked the National Science Foundation article, which gave further information on the topic. Your video was relevant to the point of your topic and it was also interesting to see what is occurring at the moment which may one day be beneficial to us.
Personally I believe this is a great discovery. Having read in the book and in your blog and attached article, I know the many illnesses and disorders which are very difficult to cure and who sometimes are never cured because of the BBB and its protective nature. This advancement in science will help many people in our future recover from such illnesses.
I like the way you explained the material, it is essential that the Blood-brain barrier serves as a protection shield for the unwanted virus and diseases. However it is sad to know that as it serves for a good purpose it also affects us. In many cases it affects us because having this barrier it prevents future medication to flow in to better cure the cancerous cells. It is fascinating to hear that scientist have come out with ways to enter and cure those in need of help like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. It must be very difficult to acknowledge the help, but at the same time frustrating to see how in many ways the wall prevents us from cure.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting read, and I found the video very helpful and motivating. Anything that can be explained or demonstrated visually is a great advantage, especially for people that are researching if breaking the BBB can really be done. It would be ideal if the blood-brain barrier could be "turned on and off," allowing it to protect the brain against bad chemicals and yet allowing the drug treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in.
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