The impact of hypoxia on blood-brain, blood-CSF and CSF-brain barriers
The blood-brain barrier (BBB), blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) and CSF-brain barriers (CSFBB) are highly regulated barriers in the central nervous system comprising of complex multi-cellular structures that separate nerves and glia from blood and cerebrospinal fluid, respectively. Barrier damage has been implicated in the pathophysiology of diverse hypoxia-related neurological conditions including stroke, multiple sclerosis, hydrocephalus and high-altitude cerebral edema. Much is known about damage to the BBB in response to hypoxia but much less is known about the BCSFB and CSFBB. Yet it is known that these other barriers are implicated in damage after hypoxia or inflammation. In the 1950s, it was shown that the rate of radionucleated human serum albumin passage from plasma to CSF was 5-times higher during hypoxic than normoxic conditions in dogs, due to blood-CSF barrier disruption. Severe hypoxia due to administration of the bacterial toxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is associated with disruption of the CSFBB. This review discusses the anatomy of the BBB, BCSFB and CSFBB, and the impact of hypoxia and associated inflammation on the regulation of those barriers.