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This is really exciting! In my field of research, there is a theory that leptin, one of the key hormones in the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure, is prevented from crossing the blood brain barrier during obesity. There has been a lot of debate over whether the cells stop responding to leptin or whether leptin is unable to cross the bbb. It would be really great to clarify this using the technique above!
Hmm... there are also theories that radiation damage in the CNS may be mediated by the blood brain barrier/vasculature, and so it would be interesting to see some research on radiation and pericytes!
I agree. There's just not enough information about pericytes in relation to these major diseases. We tend to gloss over them in favor of the more sexy cell types like microglia and astrocyte. I'll be interested to see how this field develops in the near future.
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