Multiregional blood-brain barrier phenotyping identifies the prefrontal cortex as the most vulnerable region to ageing in mice

Abstract

Age-associated vascular alterations make the brain more vulnerable to neuropathologies. Research in humans and rodents have demonstrated structural, molecular, and functional alterations of the aged brain vasculature that suggest blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction. However, these studies focused on particular features of the BBB and specific brain regions. Thus, it remains unclear if and which BBB age-associated phenotypes are conserved across brain areas. Moreover, there is very limited information about how BBB dysfunction and cell-specific phenotypes relate to each other. In this manuscript, we use immunofluorescence, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and permeability assays to assess how age-associated BBB molecular, structural, and functional phenotypes correlate between the BBB cell types at three brain regions (prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and corpus callosum) during mouse early ageing. We discovered that at 18-20 months of age, the mouse prefrontal cortex BBB is the most affected region, with alterations in brain endothelial cell protein expression, BBB permeability, basement membrane thickness, and astrocyte endfoot size when compared to young mice. Here, we deliver a detailed multicellular characterisation of region-dependent BBB changes at early stages of ageing. Our data paves the way for future studies to investigate how region-specific BBB dysfunction may contribute to disease-associated regional vulnerability.