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A Diffusion Barrier Between the Area Postrema and Nucleus Tractus Solitarius

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Abstract

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a structural and functional barrier that prevents free exchange of circulating substances with the brain, where the endothelial cells of microvessels are joined by tight junctions. The circumventricular organs (CVOs), by contrast, lack tight junctions and exhibit more direct communication with the circulating blood and cerebrospinal fluid. Despite many outstanding morphological studies at the electron microscopic level, there remain misconceptions that the CVOs provide direct passage of blood-borne substances to the rest of the brain. This study will show the structure of the anatomical borders of the dorsal vagal complex in the brainstem. A distinct diffusion barrier between the area postrema (AP, a CVO) and the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) was illustrated by immunohistochemistry at both the light and electron microscopic levels. The border zone between the AP and NTS was underlined by a continuous monolayer of columnar cells that were immunopositive for both the tight junction protein zona occludin-1 and the astrocyte marker glial fibrillary acidic protein. This observation of a diffusion barrier between the AP and NTS resolves a long-standing dispute about whether the NTS is a structural extension of the AP with a leaky BBB.

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Acknowledgments

Abba J. Kastin is supported by NIH DK54880, and Weihong Pan received NS45751 and NS46528. Editorial support is provided by Ms. Loula Burton.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8555, Japan

    Qing-Ping Wang, Jian-Lian Guan & Seiji Shioda

  2. Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA, 70808, USA

    Weihong Pan & Abba J. Kastin

Authors
  1. Qing-Ping Wang
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  2. Jian-Lian Guan
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  3. Weihong Pan
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  4. Abba J. Kastin
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  5. Seiji Shioda
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Correspondence to Abba J. Kastin.

Additional information

Special issue article in honor of Dr. Ji-Sheng Han.

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Wang, QP., Guan, JL., Pan, W. et al. A Diffusion Barrier Between the Area Postrema and Nucleus Tractus Solitarius. Neurochem Res 33, 2035–2043 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9676-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9676-y

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