Figure 1

Schematic junctional organization and β-catenin signaling in CNS ECs: comparison of brain and retina. A In the brain and spinal cord mainly Wnt7a and Wnt7b growth factors act on an uncharacterized Fzd-LRP receptor complex to elicit β-catenin target gene transcription. The positively regulated target genes identified so far are the TJ protein claudin-3, Glut-1 and ABCB1/MDR1. Conversely, the expression of Meca-32/Plvap becomes suppressed by β-catenin transcription via an unknown mechanism. B in the retina Norrin is the predominant ligand activating β-catenin signaling downstream of the Fzd4-LRP5-TSPAN12 receptor complex. So far only the repression of Meca-32/Plvap was identified as target of this signaling. To date the effect of Norrin signaling on claudin-3, Glut-1 or other barrier-related genes is not know. See the grey supported area and arrows for the "canonical" Wnt pathway.