How to Use blood-brain barrier in a Sentence

blood-brain barrier

noun
  • At the base of the brain sits a dense constellation of cells known as the blood-brain barrier.
    Donna Jackson Nakazawa, Wired, 21 Jan. 2020
  • This structure is called the blood-brain barrier, or BBB for short, and the drug should not have been able to pass through it.
    Daniela Kaufer, Scientific American, 23 Apr. 2021
  • Most drugs can’t pass through the blood-brain barrier, a living border wall around the brain.
    Megan Molteni, Wired, 15 Apr. 2020
  • In fact, some parts of the brain don’t have a traditional blood-brain barrier at all.
    Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta Magazine, 20 June 2023
  • The team also found that clusterin readily attached to the cells that form the blood-brain barrier.
    Emily Willingham, Scientific American, 8 Dec. 2021
  • With its added methyl-group molecule, Pervitin races across the blood-brain barrier a bit faster than Benzedrine.
    Fox News, 25 June 2019
  • The procedure to open the blood-brain barrier only takes four minutes and is performed while the patient is awake.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 3 May 2023
  • Better yet, two of them were already known to cross the blood-brain barrier, so could potentially reach the cells that Parkinson's kills.
    John Timmer, Ars Technica, 2 Sep. 2017
  • In children, particularly under the age of 10 or babies in the womb, the metal can pass through the blood-brain barrier and kill off brain cells.
    Julia Belluz, Vox, 30 Mar. 2018
  • In children, particularly those under the age of 10 or babies in the womb, the metal can pass through the blood-brain barrier and kill off brain cells.
    Julia Belluz, Vox, 27 Sep. 2018
  • In crossing the blood-brain barrier, caffeine can act on the central nervous system.
    Science & Food, Discover Magazine, 29 Sep. 2015
  • This is also the first study that shows how quickly the blood-brain barrier closes after being opened by the ultrasound.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 3 May 2023
  • These cytokines are seemingly able to cross the semipermeable network of capillaries that connect the brain to the rest of the body (known as the blood-brain barrier).
    Claire Maldarelli, Popular Science, 22 Feb. 2018
  • Damage to the blood-brain barrier caused by inflammation can result in the brain's inability to send messages from the brain to other parts of the body.
    Dr. Odelia Lewis and Sony Salzman, ABC News, 30 July 2021
  • There are even species whose neurotoxic compounds get through our own blood-brain barrier, a feat that no wasp venom can yet achieve.
    Christie Wilcox, Scientific American, 1 May 2017
  • Due to the blood-brain barrier, biomarkers couldn’t be found in sufficient quantities.
    Tribune News Service, oregonlive, 25 Nov. 2021
  • Too much inflammation can also break down the protective wall known as the blood-brain barrier and lead to brain swelling, seizures or spread of infection.
    Dr. Minali Nigam and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, 29 July 2020
  • Researchers have found signs that the virus can establish a foothold of sorts on the periphery of the brain, where the protective blood-brain barrier opens up to allow key molecules to slip through.
    Amina Khan Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2021
  • The glowing gold stars are astrocytes: these cells control the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and are named for their starlike shape.
    Liz Tormes, Scientific American, 26 Aug. 2022
  • These metals also have the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, a feature of the human nervous system that defends the brain from pathogens and toxins in the blood, according to a 2015 study.
    Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY, 26 Jan. 2022
  • For another, the brain is walled off from the rest of the body by a series of microscopic defenses collectively known as the blood-brain barrier.
    Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, 20 Dec. 2013
  • The scientists then injected some animals with a dye that cannot cross a healthy blood-brain barrier and scanned the living animals’ brains.
    Gretchen Reynolds, New York Times, 31 Jan. 2018
  • Those places include the area postrema in the brainstem, which lies outside the blood-brain barrier because its job is to detect toxins and trigger vomiting in response.
    Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2021
  • The coronavirus may be able to cross the blood-brain barrier, causing autonomic changes such as shortness of breath, sweating and rapid heart rate, researchers said.
    Julie Washington, cleveland, 30 Mar. 2021
  • Sleep apnea can break down the blood-brain barrier that keeps bacteria from reaching the brain and doing permanent damage.
    Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 5 July 2022
  • In the brain, P-glycoprotein is present at high levels at the junction points, or the blood-brain barrier, between neurons and the dense network of blood vessels surrounding them.
    Dallas News, 29 June 2021
  • This plumbing system is specific to the brain, since toxin-flushing in the rest of the body is carried out by the lymphatic system, which can’t get its cleaning powers past the blood-brain barrier.
    Breanna Draxler, Discover Magazine, 18 Oct. 2013
  • Or tiny particles can cross the blood-brain barrier, wreaking direct damage.
    Kaiser Health News, oregonlive, 24 Sep. 2022
  • Shire Pharmaceuticals has developed a therapy for the disease and has even found a way to deliver it across the blood-brain barrier, which is no mean feat.
    Vibhav Rangarajan, STAT, 5 June 2018
  • Because of their molecular structure, endorphins cannot cross the blood-brain barrier.
    Outside Online, 7 Apr. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blood-brain barrier.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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