Meanings
plural blood-brain barriers
- anatomyA highly selective, semipermeable interface between the blood and the brain's interstitial fluid that regulates the movement of molecules and ions into the central nervous system.
The brain and spinal cord are insulated by a tight cellular seal called the blood-brain barrier that prevents foreign chemicals from easily getting into the brain.
2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 1471 more example
It’s estimated only 0.1% of antibodies circulating in the bloodstream enter the brain – this also includes the therapeutic antibodies currently used in clinical trials. An approach my team is taking is to use ultrasound to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, which increases the uptake of Alzheimer’s drugs or antibody fragments.
2018 January 18, Jürgen Götz, “Why it’s so hard to treat dementia”, in CNNSynonyms: BBB, hematoencephalic barrier
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA highly selective, semipermeable interface between the blood and the brain's interstitial fluid that regulates the movement of molecules and ions into the central nervous system.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 血腦屏障 /血脑屏障
- 血腦屏障 /血脑屏障 (xuè-nǎo píngzhàng)structure in the central nervous system
Czech hematoencefalická bariéra
- hematoencefalická bariérastructure in the central nervous system
Finnish veri-aivoeste
- veri-aivoestestructure in the central nervous system
French barrière hémato-encéphalique
- barrière hémato-encéphaliquestructure in the central nervous system
German Blut-Hirn-Schranke
- Blut-Hirn-Schrankestructure in the central nervous system
Greek αιματοεγκεφαλικός φραγμός
- αιματοεγκεφαλικός φραγμός (aimatoegkefalikós fragmós)structure in the central nervous system
Hungarian vér-agy gát
- vér-agy gátstructure in the central nervous system
Indonesian sawar darah otak
- sawar darah otakstructure in the central nervous system
Japanese 血液脳関門
- 血液脳関門 (ketsuekinōkanmon)structure in the central nervous system
Polish bariera krew-mózg
- bariera krew-mózgstructure in the central nervous system
Portuguese barreira hematoencefálica
- barreira hematoencefálicastructure in the central nervous system
Russian гематоэнцефали́ческий барье́р
- гематоэнцефали́ческий барье́р (gematoencefalíčeskij barʹjér)structure in the central nervous system
Spanish barrera hematoencefálica
- barrera hematoencefálicastructure in the central nervous system
Thai ตัวกั้นระหว่างเลือดกับสมอง
- ตัวกั้นระหว่างเลือดกับสมอง (dtuua-gân-rá-wàang-lʉ̂ʉat-gàp-sà-mɔ̌ɔng)structure in the central nervous system
Ukrainian гематоенцефалі́чний бар'є́р
- гематоенцефалі́чний бар'є́р (hematoencefalíčnyj barʺjér)structure in the central nervous system
Cite this entry
blood-brain barrier. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood-brain%20barrier
“blood-brain barrier.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood-brain%20barrier. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blood-brain barrier,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood-brain%20barrier.
Source: blood-brain barrier on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.