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COMMENT

Another Crack in the Edifice of the Brain-Blood Interface

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, New York 10016

¹To whom requests for reprints should be addressed at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, NYU Medical Center, 550 First Avenue, New York, New York 10016. E-mail: fnaftolin{at}optonline.net

The paper by Cosgrove et al., "The choroid plexus removes ß-amyloid from brain cerebrebrospinal fluid" (1), selected for the Best Paper Award in the Experimental Biology Category for 2005, represents early progress in the understanding of the flux of soluble amyloid monomeric amyloid in and out of the brain. The authors make a case for the presence of specific, possibly saturable mechanisms that regulate the passage of this interesting molecule across two models of rodent choroid plexus. Amyloid is a common molecule that is found throughout the body; however, because the disease associated with excess amounts of insoluble amyloid in the brain is Alzheimer dementia (2), the report is of special interest.

This is welcome progress in illustrating the complexity of traffic at the brain-blood interface. This previously monolithic border is now increasingly understood to have separate cellular and micro environmental layers and to perform previously unsuspected functions (3–5). To secure their claims, the authors will have to determine which cells are interacting with amyloid as it is taken up by the ex vivo choroid plexus, confirm whether these cells are present and functioning in the same manner in the cells that they used for tissue culture, and determine whether the remainder of the blood vascular system acts in the same way when confronted by soluble monomeric amyloid. However, this report by Cosgrove et al. exposes further the variety of mechanisms that may regulate the transfer of substances across borders in the brain. Its findings should serve as a stimulus for continuing study of the brain-blood interface.

References

1. Cosgrove J, Li GJ, Zheng W. The choroid plexus removes ß-amyloid from brain cerebrebrospinal fluid. Exp Biol Med 230:771–776, 2005.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Zlokocic BV. Clearing amyloid through the blood-brain barrier. J Neurochem 89:807–811, 2004.[Medline]
3. Garcia-Segura LM, Chowen JA, Duenas M, Parducz A, Naftolin F. Gonadal steroids and astroglial plasticity. Cell Mol Biol 16:225–237, 1996.
4. Bechmann I, Mor G, Nilsen J, Eliza M, Nitsch R, Naftolin F. FasL (CD95L, Apo1L) is expressed in the normal rat and human brain: evidence for the existence of an immunological brain barrier (IBB). Glia 27:62–74, 1999.[Medline]
5. Bechmann I, Goldmann J, Kovac AD, Kwidzinski E, Simburger E, Naftolin F, Dirnagl U, Nitsch R, Priller J. Circulating monocytic cells infiltrate layers of anterograde axonal degeneration where they transform into microglia. FASEB J 19:647–649, 2005.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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