Another writeup on getting across the blood brain barrier. Ask your doctor and researcher which one they prefer. We are going to need this for drug delivery unless nasal wins out.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0070233
Abstract
Reproducing the characteristics and the functional responses of the blood–brain barrier (BBB)
in vitro
represents an important task for the research community, and would be a
critical biotechnological breakthrough. Pharmaceutical and
biotechnology industries provide strong demand for inexpensive and
easy-to-handle
in vitro BBB models to screen novel drug
candidates. Recently, it was shown that canonical Wnt signaling is
responsible for the induction of the BBB properties in the neonatal
brain microvasculature
in vivo. In the present study, following on from earlier observations, we have developed a novel model of the BBB
in vitro
that may be suitable for large scale screening assays. This model is
based on immortalized endothelial cell lines derived from murine and
human brain, with no need for co-culture with astrocytes. To maintain
the BBB endothelial cell properties, the cell lines are cultured in the
presence of Wnt3a or drugs that stabilize β-catenin, or they are
infected with a transcriptionally active form of β-catenin. Upon these
treatments, the cell lines maintain expression of BBB-specific markers,
which results in elevated transendothelial electrical resistance and
reduced cell permeability. Importantly, these properties are retained
for several passages in culture, and they can be reproduced and
maintained in different laboratories over time. We conclude that the
brain-derived endothelial cell lines that we have investigated gain
their specialized characteristics upon activation of the canonical Wnt
pathway. This model may be thus suitable to test the BBB permeability to
chemicals or large molecular weight proteins, transmigration of
inflammatory cells, treatments with cytokines, and genetic manipulation.
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