![]() We are learning now that there is definitely a two-way street.” “It can cause problems rather than simply being a byproduct of neurodegeneration. “We are finding that the barrier is not just a protective check but also a source of regulation,” Haghighi says. The breakdown of the blood-brain barrier accompanies many neurological conditions, including epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, and neurodegenerative diseases of aging, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Haghighi is the senior author of a study publishing in the Augissue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that offers for the first time evidence, in fruit flies, that signals originating in the cells of the barrier also play a direct role in controlling what happens in the nerve cells the barrier is protecting. “What we know currently about the blood-brain barrier is mostly that we don’t know much beyond the basics,” says Buck Institute professor Pejmun Haghighi, Ph.D., who has uncovered a new role for these cells. While the role of the blood-brain barrier has long been appreciated for its ability to maintain precise control over what molecules can enter the nervous system, very little is known about how the cells that form the barrier influence the function of the nervous system. Summary: The signals that originate in the cells of the blood-brain barrier also play a direct role in controlling what happens to the neurons the barrier is protecting.
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