Receptor-mediated endocytosis of transferrin at the blood-brain barrier.

Rat brains were perfuse with a transferrin-peroxidase conjugate (Tf-HRP) to characterize morphologically the endocytic pathway of transferrin in blood-brain barrier endothelial cells. Electron microscopic evaluation of rat brains perfused with Tf-HRP at 4 degrees C and subsequently warmed to 37 degrees C for brief periods of time (2 minutes) showed sequestration of Tf-HRP in clathrin coated pits and vesicles on the luminal membrane of the brain endothelium. After 5 minutes of warming, diaminobenzidine (DAB) reaction product was present in vesicular structures 250-500 nm in diameter and in associated tubules morphologically identified as large or sorting endosomes. Recycling endosomes were also heavily labelled at this time point. Almost no DAB reaction product remained in the cerebral endothelial cells when the warming period was longer than 15 minutes. Other rat brains were perfused with Tf-HRP at 30 degrees C for 15 minutes prior to fixation and DAB cytochemistry. In these studies, brain endothelial cells contained large amounts of DAB reaction product, mostly localized in 50-100 nm vesicles and tubules, often in the Golgi region of the cells. Coated pits and vesicles and large endosomes were also heavily labelled. Transcytosis of Tf-HRP was not identified in either perfusion protocol. Ultrastructural, indirect immunocytochemical localization of transferrin receptors showed that the transferrin receptor is highly polarized at the blood-brain barrier and is localized only on the apical membrane, in contrast to other polarized epithelial cells, like hepatocytes, in which the receptor is present on the basolateral membrane. The evidence supports an iron transport model in which iron-loaded transferrin is taken up by receptor-mediated endocytosis at the luminal membrane of brain capillaries. The iron then dissociates from transferrin in endosomal compartments and is transcytosed by unknown mechanisms, while the transferrin is retroendocytosed.