Engineered human blood–brain barrier microfluidic model for vascular permeability analyses

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) greatly restricts the entry of biological and engineered therapeutic molecules into the brain. Due to challenges in translating results from animal models to the clinic, relevant in vitro human BBB models are needed to assess pathophysiological molecular transport mechanisms and enable the design of targeted therapies for neurological disorders. This protocol describes an in vitro model of the human BBB self-assembled within microfluidic devices from stem-cell-derived or primary brain endothelial cells, and primary brain pericytes and astrocytes. This protocol requires 1.5 d for device fabrication, 7 d for device culture and up to 5 d for downstream imaging, protein and gene…

• A
  Amgen
• CA
  Cure Alzheimer's Fund
• LI
  Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
• LC
  Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology
• LC
  Ludwig Center at Harvard

  Award: U01 CA202177
• NC
  National Cancer Institute

  Awards: U01 CA202177, CA202177
• NI
  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke