Appeal No. 2005-0126
Application No. 09/967,791
The prior art references cited by the examiner are:
Keep et al (Keep) 5,972,924 Oct. 26, 1999
Naito EP 0652012 A1 May 10, 1995
Grounds of Rejection
Claims 1-10 and 12-28 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103(a), as obvious in
view of Naito and Keep.
We reverse this rejection.
DISCUSSION
Background
According to the background section of the specification describing the state of
the art, the “blood-brain barrier that exists in all vertebrate brains was discovered in the
latter part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Researchers
discovered that dyes injected intravenously into the bloodstream stained all internal
organs except the brain and that dyes injected into the cerebrospinal fluid stained cells
of the brain but did not enter the bloodstream to stain other internal organs. It was later
discovered that the blood-brain barrier was due to the structure of the capillary walls of
the brain.” Specification, page 1. “In organs other than the brain, fluid leaks out of the
capillaries and enters the tissue through pores formed at the junction of adjacent
endothelial cells. In the brain, however, endothelial cells of capillaries are intimately
fused by intracellular tight junctions. The tight junctions prevent the paracellular
2
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