PI University of Bonn Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) represents one of the major hurdles to overcome in the therapy of neurological disorders. Currently available approaches to mimic the BBB are mainly impeded by a general trade-off between accessibility and biological validity. We established a new blood-brain barrier model based on micropipette-based local perfusion of mouse brain slices. This model allows to follow transport phenomena at the cellular level, visualize BBB permeation via two-photon microscopy or determine of the permeated amounts quantitatively. Besides, first attempts were made in combination with cellular electrophysiology to read out drug effects on neuronal activity after BBB permeation to those elicited by direct application of the drug to the brain parenchyma. Finally,
Learning Objectives:
estimate the potential of the novel ex-vivo model for studies on drug transport across the blood-brain-barrier
identify the added value of this technique for drug development in neurological disorders
discuss potential interactions and evaluations of drug delivery approaches to the brain
