Blood-Brain Barrier

The importance of training our cognitive fitness is often underestimated. Regular exercise, a varied diet, stress reduction and an adequate supply of important nutrients can actively contribute to maintaining our mental health and performance. The “blood brain barrier” is moving more and more into the focus of research...

The blood-brain barrier acts as a selective barrier between blood vessels and brain. The brain needs around 200 grams of glucose every day to meet its enormous energy needs. These glucose supplies are possible through the GLUT1 transport protein directly into the brain. In order to give the topic a visual form of expression, the presented computer animation was created by the Science Visualization Lab of the University of Applied Arts Vienna in collaboration with an Austrian research team dealing with the “sugar dilemma”. For elderly people who should especially limit high-sugar foods, it could be important to counteract the often age-related limited absorption of glucose into the brain to prevent lack of nourishment. At the beginning of the animation, the regions of the blood-brain barrier are shown, followed by a zoom into the capillaries of the brain and then a jump further into the nanoworld of the GLUT1 transporter (a model combined of the wwpdb entries: 4ZWC and 4PYP). The animation shows metaphorically how “the light of thought” of every human depends on the glucose molecule.