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. 2018 Aug 6;10:234. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2018.00234

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Copyright © 2018 Osipova, Komleva, Morgun, Lopatina, Panina, Olovyannikova, Vais, Salmin and Salmina.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Blood-brain barrier (BBB) structure and intercellular communications within the neurovascular unit (NVU). Brain microvessel endothelial cells (BMECs), pericytes (PC), basement membrane (BM), perivascular astroglial cells (ACs), microglia (M) and neurons (N) form the NVU where endothelial cell layer controls bidirectional transport of macromolecules and fluids, trafficking of immune and progenitor cells to the brain tissue. NVU serves as a platform for neuron-astroglia metabolic coupling, gliovascular control of microcirculation, glia- and pericyte-mediated control of BBB permeability and angiogenesis, vascular support of neurogenesis. Er, erythrocytes; Leu, leukocytes; TJ, tight junctions.