Scientists have shown that delivering blood from an old mouse into a young mouse or vice versa prompts a sort of “Freaky Friday” effect: The brains of the young mice exposed to the old blood lose vitality, while the young blood rejuvenates some brain function in the older mice.
What they don’t know, however, is what makes those transformations occur. On Monday, scientists reported they had latched on to a protein made by the blood vessels as a key player in how older blood seems to induce cellular damage inside the brain.
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Interesting science here. Also, there are exceptions to the blood-brain barrier, potential damage to its effectiveness, and other routes of transmission. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/blood-brain-barrier. By now, we should understand that the body, oral cavity, gut, brain, nerves and organs are unified, interconnected with pathways if not superhighways for transmission of all kinds of infections, inflammatory processes, and biochemical, bioelectrical, and immunological reactions.
I’m curious about an upstream regulator of VCAM1 expression and specific pathways that both weaken the blood brain barrier and enhance neuroinflammation.
Could VCAM2 found in gut and brain vascular endothelia cause disruption of tight junctions?