Tightness of the blood-brain barrier and evidence for brain interstitial fluid flow in the cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis.

Cephalopod molluscs have complex brains and behaviour, yet little is known about the permeability of their blood-brain interface. The accompanying paper characterized the fluid compartments of the brain and presented evidence for restricted permeability of the blood-brain interface to albumin. The present paper investigates the permeability of the interface to small non-electrolytes. [14C]Polyethylene glycol (PEG, mol. wt. 4000), and [51Cr]EDTA (mol. wt. 342) were injected intravenously or intramuscularly, and their penetration into brain and muscle studied up to 48 h. Tracers equilibrated with muscle interstitial fluid (ISF) at relatively short times, but in brain ISF reached only 0.5-0.65 X their plasma concentration. This is qualitative evidence for the presence in brain of a barrier to these molecules and an efficient drainage mechanism for ISF. Quantitative treatment of the uptake data allows calculation of the permeability X surface area product (PS) and the permeability coefficient (P). For the brain PS and P are in the range 1-3 X 10(-4) ml g-1 min-1 and 1-3 X 10(-8) cm s-1 respectively, (PEG), and 3 X 10(-4) ml g-1 min-1 and 3-4 X 10(-8) cm s-1 respectively (Cr-EDTA). The P values are close to those reported for mammalian brain. Assuming that the lack of equilibration in brain is due to ISF flow, the rate of flow can be calculated. Values for vertical and optic lobe are approximately 0.2 microliter g-1 min-1, again close to those reported for mammalian brain. It is concluded that the tightness of the Sepia blood-brain barrier approaches that of mammals, and a flowing ISF system is present. An association between a tight barrier and higher central nervous system integrative function is suggested. The significance of these findings for the evolution of control of the brain microenvironment is discussed.