Engineering the human blood-brain barrier in vitro

John J Jamieson; Peter C Searson; Sharon Gerecht

doi:10.1186/s13036-017-0076-1

Engineering the human blood-brain barrier in vitro

J Biol Eng. 2017 Dec 4:11:37. doi: 10.1186/s13036-017-0076-1. eCollection 2017.

Authors

John J Jamieson^{1

2}, Peter C Searson^{2

3}, Sharon Gerecht^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 USA.
² Institute for Nanobiotechnology, 100 Croft Hall, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 USA.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 USA.

Abstract

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is the interface between the vasculature and the brain, regulating molecular and cellular transport into the brain. Endothelial cells (ECs) that form the capillary walls constitute the physical barrier but are dependent on interactions with other cell types. In vitro models are widely used in BBB research for mechanistic studies and drug screening. Current models have both biological and technical limitations. Here we review recent advances in stem cell engineering that have been utilized to create innovative platforms to replicate key features of the BBB. The development of human in vitro models is envisioned to enable new mechanistic investigations of BBB transport in central nervous system diseases.

Keywords: blood-brain barrier; in vitro modeling; induced pluripotent stem cells; neurovascular unit.

Publication types

Review