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Figure 2 | Fluids and Barriers of the CNS

Figure 2

From: Host matrix metalloproteinases in cerebral malaria: new kids on the block against blood–brain barrier integrity?

Figure 2

Blood–brain barrier structure: cerebral microvascular inter-endothelial junctions (adherens and tight junctions) and cell-matrix adhesion molecules. Diagram showing the structures of CNS inter-endothelial junctions, including adherens junctions and tight junctions, and of cell-matrix adhesion complexes, including talin, filamin, tensin or α-actinin filaments associated with integrins in the extracellular matrix. The core of adherens junctions results after the interactions among transmembrane glycoproteins, such as VE-cadherin, whose cytoplasmic face is linked to the catenin family members, including p120-catenin, β-catenin, and α-catenin. Tight junctions are composed of a branching network of sealing strands, each of which is formed by extracellular domains of transmembrane proteins, claudins and occludin, joining one another directly. These transmembrane proteins associate with different peripheral membrane proteins such as ZO-1 located on the intracellular side of plasma membrane, anchoring the strands to the actin component of the cytoskeleton.

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