title: Quantitative immunocytochemical study of blood-brain barrier glucose transporter (GLUT-1) in four regions of mouse brain.
abstract: Application of immunogold cytochemistry revealed polar (asymmetric) distribution of GLUT-1 in mouse brain microvascular endothelia, representing the anatomic site of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This polarity was manifested by an approximately threefold higher immunolabeling density of the abluminal than the luminal plasma membrane of the endothelial cells. The immunoreaction for GLUT-1 in nonbarrier continuous (skeletal muscle) or fenestrated (brain circumventricular organs) microvascular endothelial cells was absent. In the choroid plexus, the basolateral plasmalemma of the epithelial cells was labeled more intensely than the vascular fenestrated endothelium. Addition of morphometry to the applied immunogold technique makes it possible for even subtle differences to be revealed in the density of immunolabeling for GLUT-1 in blood microvessels located in four brain regions. We found that the density of immunosignals in the microvessels supplying the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum was essentially similar, whereas in the olfactory bulb it was significantly lower. Asymmetric distribution of GLUT-1 in the endothelial plasma membranes presumably leads to a reduced concentration of glucose molecules in the endothelial cells compared to blood plasma and also secures their more rapid transport across the abluminal plasmalemma to the brain parenchyma.
authors.affiliation: New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, New York, USA.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Dobrogowska
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Vorbrodt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism; D005404:Fixatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000187:drug effects; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005404:Fixatives; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; C495678:Slc2a1 protein, mouse