Hi Paula,
It is good to hear from you again. It supports the argument that the BBB is not accorded the status it deserves in research. "The blood-brain barrier is woefully misunderstood, said Banks". How right he is, and even most of the research on the BBB is spent trying to open the gates to let large drugs in, when this can only exacerbate our symptoms by letting more toxins in, while it is temporarily open. What we need is a simple and convenient treatment to maintain the BBB at the level of permeability of a healthy blood-brain barrier.
I am amazed the medical profession seems to state black or white, a substance either can cross the BBB or it doesn't. What they mean, is that relates to a healthy BBB with a standard permeabilty. It is like quoting amps without volts, or a boiling point without the pressure it is measured at. However, 5 million of the world population have defective BBB's and to give a go, no go decision on a substance does not apply to us. Remember the Gulf War Syndrome, where they gave troops drugs to combat chemical weapons. They confidently said, that these drugs would not cause any neurological problems since they did not pass the BBB. Surprise, the stress of battle opened the BBB and they found substantial amounts of the drug in the brain. See
http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdf...4/15024-10.pdf
The article is getting on the right track when it says,
" Sometimes the blood-brain barrier lets in things that it shouldn't and doesn't let out things that it should". However, they should add,
"Sometimes it lets things out that that it shouldn't", like our tiny reserve of dopamine gets dumped to the bloodstream in times of stress, and we freeze on the spot. But they are starting to understand that the BBB can be manipulated wider or narrower, and that is a step forward.
I get hope when I see them say,
""A big part of our work is raising the awareness about the blood-brain barrier as an intimate part of the disease process,"
and
"The review also called for investigators from various disciplines and who work in different institutions and laboratories to collaborate on blood-brain barrier research "
However, now into my 70's, how much longer can I afford to wait until they lumber into action, and spend money on research in the right area.
Ron