Summary
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is more permeable to blood-borne compounds during stress or disease. Moreover, during stress, an extra demand is put on the regulatory systems for the maintenance of cell volume. Hence, the ability of the brain capillary endothelial cells (BCEC) to regulate their volume is essential for maintaining the integrity of the BBB. In this study, the effect of stress on BCEC was investigated by means of osmolyte efflux measurements (free amino acids) into the extracellular fluid (eg., the culture medium). Extracellular concentrations of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, taurine and glycine increased several fold, while glutamine and serine showed no change in extracellular concentration after exposure to stress. This experiment showed that the volume regulatory response of stressed BCEC is, at least partially, dependent on the efflux of free amino acids. By determining the mechanism by which the volume regulation of these cells is controlled, we anticipate to have a tool by which we can modulate the permeability of the BBB in disease state (eg., vasogenic edema or CNS inflammation).
Résumé
La barrière hémato-encéphalique (BHE) est plus perméable aux composés apportés par le sang en cas de stress ou de maladie. De plus, pendant le stress, les systèmes régulateurs sont plus sollicités, afin de maintenir le volume cellulaire.Ainsi, la faculté des cellules endothéliales capillaires cérébrales (BCEC) de réguler leur volume est indispensable à l’intégrité de la BHE. Dans cette étude, nous avons étudié l’effet du stress sur les BCEC en mesurant l’efflux d’osmolytes (acides aminés libres) dans le liquide extracellulaire (par exemple le milieu de culture). Les teneurs extracellulaires en acides aspartique et glutamique, en taurine et glycine augmentaient de plusieurs ordres de grandeur, tandis que les taux de glutamine et de sérine n’étaient pas modifiés dans le milieu extracellulaire après stress. Cette expérience a montré que la régulation du volume des cellules BCEC stressées dépend, au moins partiellement, de l’efflux des acides aminés libres. En déterminant par quel mécanisme s’opère cette régulation, nous pensons disposer d’un outil permettant de moduler la perméabilité de la BHE dans les états pathogènes (par exemple oedème vasogène ou inflammation du SNC).
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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Gaillard, P.J., De Boer, A.G., Breimer, D.D. (1996). Volume Regulation of the in Vitro Blood-Brain Barrier by Osmoreactive Amino Acids during Stress. In: Couraud, PO., Scherman, D. (eds) Biology and Physiology of the Blood-Brain Barrier. Advances in Behavioral Biology, vol 46. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9489-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9489-2_4
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