For each amino acid at steady-state, its net fluxes across the blood–brain barrier and via perivascular routes and its net rate of synthesis must add to zero so that the concentrations in the brain parenchyma can remain constant. However, there are major complications in applying this principle to the interpretation of data: there are more than 20 different amino-acids, inter-conversions between them by transamination are common, and they compete with each other for the many amino acid transporters. Indeed the major application of this principle comes when considering overall N balance.