The effect of hyperglycemia on brain capillary permeability in the lizard, Anolis carolinensis. A freeze-fracture analysis of blood-brain barrier pathology.

The anatomical basis of the blood-brain barrier in the American chameleon, Anolis carolinensis, is the system of tight intercellular junctions that occurs between apposed endothelial cells of brain capillaries. Under normal physiological conditions, capillaries in the brain cortex of these animals remain sealed by interendothelial zonulae occludentes and, consequently, escape of exogenous tracer proteins such as horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the extracellular compartment of the central nervous system is prevented. Systemic injection of 2.7 mg of D-glucose into chameleons results in increased brain capillary permeability, as evidenced by escape of HRP or Trypan blue into the intercellular spaces of central neuropil. Freeze-fracture analysis of brain capillary endothelia of glucose-hyperglycemic lizards revealed no alteration of the ridge and groove construction of endothelial tight junctions, indicating that although the blood-brain interface becomes leaky during severe hyperglycemia, the capillary zonulae occludentes are not affected. Evidence obtained in this study strongly supports the notion that the increased capillary permeability is the result of amplified transendothelial transport. The effect is manifest as and facilitated by the formation of chains of pinocytotic vesicles derived from the luminal surface of the endothelial cells, which fuse to create open trans-endothelial conduits. It is likely that formation of open channels that traverse brain capillary endothelial cells, as a response to hyperglycemia, could allow temporarily unrestricted passage of a wide range of molecules, some potentially toxic, into the CNS extracellular milieu. This is the first report to unequivocally document with freeze-cleave techniques, that abnormally elevated levels of blood sugar can affect blood-brain interface permeability. This finding suggests that similar consequences may be expected to result from diabetic hyperglycemia in humans.