DOES BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER PROVIDE A PROTECTION AGAINST MSG?

As 'blood brain barrier' (BBB) creates a obstacle between brain and circulating chemicals, many argue that BBB can provide an effective protection against MSG. But, this is not exactly the case as evidenced by scientific literature.

1. There are few projections of neural tissue that probes outside of BBB. these are commonly called 'circumventricular organs'. The main use of these projections are thought to be neuro hormonal and chemical sensing of environment outside the brain. These areas are devoid of BBB and more prone to chemical induced damage.

2. It's true that BBB is relatively impermeable to MSG. However, the presence of high affinity glutamate receptors at BBB capillaries facilitate MSG uptake into brain. Jennifer S. Xiong and team in 2009, had demonstrated that even a mere 10% presence of blood concentration in brain, would exceed the threshold concentration for neurological injury (5 mic.mol/L).