ABSTRACT

Wandong Zhang,1,* Michelle Bamji-Mirza,2 Nina Chang,3 Arsalan S. Haqqani4 and Danica B. Stanimirovic5

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a dynamic physical and biological barrier between the peripheral circulation and the central nervous system (CNS). It is formed by specialized cerebromicrovascular endothelial cells (CEC) and functions to provide a stable environment for CNS function (Begley and Brightman 2003, Begley 2004, Abbott 2005, Zhang and Stanimirovic 2005, Abbott et al. 2010, Miller 2010, Shen and Zhang 2010). The anatomical features of the BBB include high-density tight

1 Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council Canada; Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Ottawa. 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0R6.