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blood-brain barrier
[ bluhd-breyn ]
noun
, Physiology.
- a layer of tightly packed cells that make up the walls of brain capillaries and prevent substances in the blood from diffusing freely into the brain: passage across the cell membranes is determined by solubility in the lipid bilayer or recognition by a transport molecule.
blood-brain barrier
- A physiological mechanism that alters the permeability of capillaries in the brain, so that some substances, such as certain drugs, are prevented from entering brain tissue, while other substances are allowed to enter freely.
blood-brain barrier
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Notes
Oxygen , glucose , and white blood cells are molecules that are able to pass through this barrier. Red blood cells cannot.
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Word History and Origins
Origin of blood-brain barrier1
First recorded in 1940–45
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Example Sentences
But how exactly did those fetal cells (or some of the DNA from them) cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain?
From The Daily Beast
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