The blood-brain barrier is highly dynamic, changing in response to neural and environmental stimuli to regulate central nervous system function and protect against disease. In many neurodegenerative disease, dysfunction of the blood brain barrier is one of the earliest signs and many questions remain regarding its changing role in health and disease. Richard Daneman, PhD, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, shares some of the major questions his team and other labs across the world are hoping to address. In particular, investigations are assessing how blood-brain barrier properties change in response to stimuli, how it differs in different regions of the brain and the impact of regional variability in disease, and how specific signals cause barrier dysfunction. How the transport properties of the blood-brain barrier can be harnessed to support drug delivery to the brain is another major focus. This interview took place at the AD/PD™ 2022 Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
