- Brain is one of the most vascularized organs in mammals. In the human body, the brain is the most vascularized organ. Over 100 billion capillaries (total length: ≈ 400 miles; total surface area: ≈ 20 m2; median intercapillary distance: ≈ 50 µm) are found in the brain.
- Almost the entire brain microvessels (99%) are covered by endocyte endfeet (Mathiisen et al., 2010).
- Endothelial cells of brain vasculature adhere tightly to each other by tight junctions and allow only selective passage of blood-borne molecules to brain parenchyma. This property of brain vasculature is called Blood-Brain barrier (BBB).
REFERENCES
- Mathiisen et al., 2010. The perivascular astroglial sheath provides a complete covering of the brain microvessels: an electron microscopic 3D reconstruction. Glia. 58(9), 1094-1103. PMID-20468051; Full Text Link: Wiley
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