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Freeze-Fracture Studies of Cerebral Endothelial Tight Junctions

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The Blood-Brain Barrier

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Medicine™ ((MIMM,volume 89))

Abstract

The tracer experiments of Reese and Karnovsky (1) demonstrated that it was the endothelium that formed a permeability barrier because electron-dense tracers such as horseradish peroxidase did not pass from the vessel lumen through the interendothelial cleft. The structure responsible for the lack of permeability of tracers was the tight junction. In endothelial cells, these specialized contact zones were already known from ultrastructural studies (2), and in epithelial cells, their morphology was described in detail by Farquhar and Palade (3).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Pathology, University of Tübingen, Germany

    Hartwig Wolburg

  2. Vascular Biology, FIMO-FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan, Italy

    Stefan Liebner

  3. Nephrology Section, Department of Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

    Andrea Lippoldt

Authors
  1. Hartwig Wolburg
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  2. Stefan Liebner
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  3. Andrea Lippoldt
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neuropathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Sukriti Nag

  2. Toronto Western Research Institute and Department of Pathology, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada

    Sukriti Nag

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© 2003 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Wolburg, H., Liebner, S., Lippoldt, A. (2003). Freeze-Fracture Studies of Cerebral Endothelial Tight Junctions. In: Nag, S. (eds) The Blood-Brain Barrier. Methods in Molecular Medicine™, vol 89. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-419-0:51

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-419-0:51

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-073-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-419-1

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