Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Key to Blood-Brain Barrier Opens Way for Treating Alzheimer’s and Stroke

ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2010) — While the blood-brain barrier (BBB) protects the brain from harmful chemicals occurring naturally in the blood, it also obstructs the transport of drugs to the brain. In an article in Nature scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet now present a potential solution to the problem. The key to the BBB is a cell-type in the blood vessel walls calledpericytes, and the researchers hope that their findings will one day contribute to new therapies for diseases like Alzheimer's and stroke.

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