Ultrastructural Organization of the Honeybee Blood-Brain Barrier and Comparison with Age

Abstract

The blood-brain barrier is an essential feature of the most animal nervous systems, adapted to maintain brain homeostasis across species occupying unique and dynamic environments. Understanding the structural and functional diversity of animal blood-brain barriers can aid our understanding of how this structure contributes to important areas of neuroscience such as behavior, health, and disease. The honeybee worker is a well-established model for exploring these dimensions of brain function, however, the honeybee worker blood-brain barrier has yet to be described. Here, we present the first global anatomic analysis and description of the honeybee worker blood-brain barrier and compare key ultrastructural features between two age groups. We describe the cellular makeup of the honeybee worker blood-brain barrier, patterns of heterogeneity in barrier structure throughout the brain, and highlight important areas of further study.