[Endothelial vesicles as a transport system in the blood-brain barrier. Morphometric study during development]

The vesicles and vacuoles of the endothelia, morphological expression of endocytosis and transendothelial transport, are quite absent in the mature neural endothelia. In order to study the temporal sequence of the vesicle and vacuole modifications during the blood brain barrier (bbb) setting up, the extent of these structures was morphometrically analyzed on electron micrographs of neural microvessels in the optic tectum of 8, 14, and 17 day chick embryos, fixed after an intracardial injection of the permeability marker horseradish peroxidase. During the development, endocytosis and transendothelial transport change, since a statistically significant reduction of both vesicles and vacuoles was recorded at the 17th incubation day. The temporal coincidence between decrease of endocytosis-transport processes and appearance of astrocytic endfeet close to the vessel wall, suggests that the glial cells might control, besides the tight junction formation, the expression of other properties of the bbb-provided endothelia.