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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Analyzing the Permeability of the Blood-Brain Barrier by Microbial Traversal through Microvascular Endothelial Cells
Published on: February 14, 2020
The sweet gatekeeper: Mucin-type O-glycans in brain endothelial glycocalyx and aging
Duan Lu Hou1, Yun-Cheng Wu2, Eng King Tan3
1National Neuroscience Institute, 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore 308433, Singapore; Department of Neurology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No.86, Wujin Road, Shanghai 200080, China.
Abstract:
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is crucial for brain homeostasis, and its dysfunction is associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases. A recent seminal study by Shi et al. (2025) published in Nature illuminates a previously underappreciated component, the brain endothelial glycocalyx, as a key player in age-related BBB breakdown. They demonstrated that aging and neurodegenerative disease can lead to significant structural and compositional dysregulation of the brain endothelial glycocalyx, specifically involving mucin-domain glycoproteins, which ultimately contribute significantly to BBB thinning. Restoring core 1 mucin-type O-glycans can improve BBB function, reduce neuroinflammation, and ameliorate cognitive deficits in aged mice. We contextualize these findings within the broader landscape of glycobiology, neurovascular research, and the concepts of inflammaging and immunosenescence, highlighting recent related discoveries and discussing the limitations and future challenges in translating these insights into therapeutic strategies for healthy brain aging.
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