The Characteristics of Glucose Transport Across the Blood Brain Barrier and its Relation to Cerebral Glucose Metabolism

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Normal neuronal function requires the presence of a suitable ionic and metabolic environment. It is well documented that in cerebral tissue, the interface between blood and brain is selectively permeable to plasma solutes. Therefore, this so-called “blood brain barrier” (BBB) plays a major role in maintaining the milieu interieur of the brain. A complete description of the barrier’s function must consider the relationship between transport and metabolism. The barrier could serve as a primary regulator of cerebral metabolism by controlling the entry rate of substrates into the brain and thus becoming the rate limiting step. On the other hand, the BBB may serve a more passive role by maintaining the cellular concentration of substrates whose rates of metabolism are regulated by other mechanisms. This is particularly relevant to glucose because most of the energy produced by the brain is derived from glucose metabolism.

This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit: