Review Article

Triggers and Effectors of Oxidative Stress at Blood-Brain Barrier Level: Relevance for Brain Ageing and Neurodegeneration

Figure 1

Ultrastructure of blood-brain barrier . (i) Overall electron microscopy image of a cerebral capillary. (ii) Blood-brain barrier components: endothelial cells (E, purple coloured), pericytes (P, brown coloured), basement membrane (bm), and end-feet of astrocytes (A, blue coloured). (iii) Cerebral capillaries have nonfenestrated endothelial cells with numerous mitochondria (m) and rare pinocytotic vesicles (*). Direct membrane-membrane contacts (arrow) often occur between endothelial cells and pericytes. (iv) Tight (tj) and adherens (aj) junctions seal the continuous capillary endothelium. Cerebral capillary lumina (L), axons (a).
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