Glial cells influence polarity of the blood-brain barrier.
Polarity has been shown to exist at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) with respect to Na+-dependent neutral amino acid transport. A situation similar to the endothelial-astrocyte relationship existing at the BBB can be produced by growing cultured cerebral endothelium on one side of a filter and C6 glial cells on the other in an enclosed double chamber. In this setting 3H-alpha-methylaminoisobutyric acid transport can be demonstrated and is more rapid from the glial surface across the endothelium, as compared with transport in the opposite direction. The observation supports a glial influence on BBB polarity in this system.
D000621:Aminoisobutyric Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier; D002196:Capillaries / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D004727:Endothelium / Q000378:metabolism; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats
D000621:Aminoisobutyric Acids; C017911:2-(methylamino)isobutyric acid