Fig. 1
From: The need for mathematical modelling of spatial drug distribution within the brain
a–c are adapted from [242] and licensed under CC BY 4.0. d is adapted with permission from [243]
Structure of the human brain: blood, brain tissue, CSF and the brain barriers. Blood vessels (red) infiltrate the brain tissue (grey) and branch out into smaller brain capillaries (inset). At the level of the brain capillaries compounds exchange between the blood and the brain tissue through the BBB. The brain tissue (brain parenchyma) contains the brain cells and the brain ECF. The CSF (blue) is located in the sub-arachnoid space (located between the dura mater, a layer of connective tissue surrounding the brain tissue, and the brain tissue), the brain ventricles and the spine. The blood is separated from the CSF by the BCSFB and the blood–arachnoid barrier. The brain barriers are indicated by black squares a–c. a The BBB is the barrier between the blood in the brain capillaries and the brain tissue. b The BCSFB is the barrier between the blood in the capillaries and the CSF in the brain ventricles. c The blood–arachnoid barrier is the barrier between the blood in the blood vessels of the dura mater and the CSF in the sub-arachnoid space.