Scientists identify signal essential for blood-brain barrier formation

What makes the vital layer of protective cells around the brain and spinal cord -; the blood-brain barrier -; more or less permeable has been one of the more mystifying questions in neuroscience.

Understanding how the barrier works to allow in or keep out certain substances has critical implications for everything from disease progression to drug delivery.

Now, a new Harvard Medical School study, published July 11 in Developmental Cell, has brought scientists a step closer to figuring it out.

Working in zebrafish and mice, the team discovered that a signal originating from…