Mitochondrial Crisis in Cerebrovascular Endothelial Cells Opens the Blood–Brain Barrier

Background and Purpose—The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a selectively permeable cerebrovascular endothelial barrier that maintains homeostasis between the periphery and the central nervous system. BBB disruption is a consequence of ischemic stroke and BBB permeability can be altered by infection/inflammation, but the complex cellular and molecular changes that result in this BBB alteration need to be elucidated to determine mechanisms. Methods—Infection mimic (lipopolysaccharide) challenge on infarct volume, BBB permeability, infiltrated neutrophils, and functional outcomes after murine transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in vivo; mitochondrial evaluation of cerebrovascular endothelial cells challenged by lipopolysaccharide in vitro; pharmacological inhibition of mitochondria on BBB permeability in vitro and in vivo; the effects of mitochondrial inhibitor on BBB permeability, infarct volume, and functional outcomes after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. Results—We report here that lipopo...