http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i27/Stem-Cells-Morph-Blood-Brain.html
For the first time, researchers have coaxed human stem cells
to transform into crucial components of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a
defensive wall that protects the brain from blood-borne invaders such
as bacteria (Nat. Biotechnol., DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2247).
Mats of the tightly packed cells mimic the BBB in humans, the research
team says, so they could be used in the future to screen neurological
drug candidates.
Starting with stem cells, scientists have previously grown
endothelial cells, which typically line the inside of blood vessels. But
researchers have never before generated endothelial cells that behave
like those in the BBB, says Eric V. Shusta,
one of the team leaders and a chemical engineer at the University of
Wisconsin, Madison. Like the cells in a human’s BBB, these new
petri-dish-derived cells pack together extremely tightly and are studded
with specific energy-burning proteins that pump molecules in and out of
cells.
To produce the new cells, Shusta says the team first grew stem cells
in a culture medium that doesn’t specifically generate any one cell
type. That way, he explains, both nerve cells and endothelial cells
develop side by side.
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