What exactly is the 'blood brain barrier'?

Question

How does oxygenation of nerve cells differ from other cells because of it?

Answer 1

It is a membrane that is impermeable to most substances, a protective mechanism that prevents most medications and things we ingest from travelling directly to the brain...since red blood cells normally do the oxygenation of living tissues but they are too big to pass throughthe barrier, nerve calls cannot be supplied oxygen in that manner...hope this helps, wasn't sure how much detail you needed.

Answer 2

There are a lot substances in the bloodstream that are designed to be handled by the liver, kidneys, pancreas, etc. The brain really just needs oxygen, plenty of it, and some nutrients. Therefore the semi-permeable membranes carrying blood into the brain, are designed to pass those substances alone, and not burden the brain with poisons, excess sugars, or whatever. But some things get through anyway.

Many drugs cannot cross the barrier. Some can. Whether or not it can cross is an important property of the drug, and both kinds can be very important.

Not sure how it affects ogygenation. Blood cells stay in the circulatory system anyway. Perhaps it affects the point at which a cell delivers oxygen?

Answer 3

The BBB protects the brain from toxic substances in the bloodstream. Being the most important organ, regulating all aspects of our physiology, the brain requires a special system that isolates it from dangerous molecules. Three kinds of cells participate in the BBB: endothelial cells (cells lining the capillaries), pericytes (muscular cells regulating the size of the capillary) and astrocytes (a special connective tissue in the brain).
The BBB is "leaky" at the area postrema, a chemoreceptor trigger zone, that induces nausea and vomiting when it senses toxics in the bloodstream, thus protecting the brain.
You can learn more about it, and see some diagrams and photographs of the BBB at: http://users.ahsc.arizona.edu/davis/bbb.htm

Answer 4

all the solutions above are very solid, unwell put in my 2 cents of nicely worth... sure the blood mind barrier is a barrier that protects the mind from risky factors. the purely issues that ought to bypass the barrier are hormones, proteins, some factors like alcohol. therapy of mind malignancies you've pharmas that ought to connect itself to a protein or hormone and enter the blood mind barrier. in many cases the affected human being is intervened with surgical operation. do not forget that i'm being very well-known in case you quite opt to study extra about the mind tissue i advise you dive right into a nuero anatomy e book and a body structure e book also. thanks for the question.