Advances on fluid shear stress regulating blood-brain barrier

Abstract The integrity of the structure and function of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) plays a central role in maintaining the homeostasis of the central nervous system. Patients with severe cerebrovascular stenosis often undergo cerebrovascular bypass surgery. However, the sharply increased fluid shear stress (FSS) after cerebrovascular bypass disrupts the physiological function of brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) at the lesion site, damaging BBB and inducing intracerebral hemorrhage eventually. At present, there are great interests in cerebral vascular flow regulating the structure and function of BBB under the physiological and pathological conditions, and most of studies have highlighted the importance of BMECs in BBB. Understanding of how FSS regulating the BBB can lead to the development of new protective and restorative cerebral vascular interventional therapy.