Isolation and behavior of plasma membrane vesicles made from cerebral capillary endothelial cells

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Introduction The endothelial cells of cerebral capillaries are joined by tight junctions that impede paracellular movement of solutes. Therefore, nutrients and ions must be transported across the respective luminal (blood-facing) and abluminal (brain-facing) plasma membranes (Brightman and Reese, 1969; Pardridge, 1983). These membranes are structurally and functionally different, resulting in a polarized configuration typical of epithelial cells (Betz and Goldstein, 1978; Betz et al ., 1980). Such an arrangement favors net unidirectional transport of certain solutes across the barrier, and implies that transendothelial flux is a balance of events occurring at each membrane domain (Ennis et al ., 1996). Clearly, the properties of both membranes must be defined and distinguished to characterize the blood–brain barrier properly. A technique is here in described for the isolation of enriched luminal and abluminal plasma membranes. Because these membranes spontaneously form tightly sealed v

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