Purification and characterization of metabolically active capillaries of the blood-brain barrier

Microvessels were isolated from bovine and rat cerebral cortex by simple procedures involving mechanical homogenization, differential and density-gradient centrifugation, and chromatography on a column of glass beads. The preparations were composed of short capillaries with a diameter of 1-10 microns. Both purifications were monitored by assaying the activity of the marker enzyme gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GTase). The final bovine and rat preparations were enriched 20- and 14-fold over the homogenate respectively. gamma-GTase activity was measured in different fractions after bovine and rat membranes were solubilized with 0.5% and 0.3% Triton X-100 respectively. Measurement of 5'-nucleotidase and acetylcholinesterase activities indicated very low levels of contamination of the microvessel preparations by glial cells and neurons. The integrity of the capillary membranes was confirmed by the assay of a cytosolic marker enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase. Viability of the microvessels was demonstrated by the presence of detectable levels of adenylates and by tissue respiration induced by glucose and succinate. Comparison of the proteins of homogenized bovine and rat brain cortex with those of purified capillaries separated by SDS/PAGE revealed enrichment of at least three predominant proteins of 14, 16 and 18 kDa in the capillary preparations. It is concluded that these methods allow rapid isolation of small blood vessels of the blood-brain barrier which are suitable for metabolic and structural studies in vitro.