Researchers said these created blood-brain barriers can be used to develop personalized medicine and new techniques to research brain disorders.

MDDI Staff

June 13, 2019

2 Min Read
Blood-Brain Barrier Chip Created Using Stem Cells
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Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said that for the first time they have duplicated a patient's blood-brain barrier (BBB) with stem cells. In turn, the research team said this can be used to develop personalized medicine and new techniques to research brain disorders.

The new research, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, is a collaboration between Dr. Gad Vatine of BGU's Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Center and Department of Physiology and Cell Biology and Dr. Clive N. Svendsen, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The BBB blocks toxins and other foreign substances in the bloodstream from entering brain tissue and causing damage. It also can prevent therapeutic drugs from reaching the brain. Neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's disease, which collectively affect millions worldwide, have been linked to a defective blood-brain barrier.

In the study, the researchers genetically manipulated blood cells collected from an individual into stem cells (known as induced pluripotent stem cells), which can produce any type of cell. These are used to create the various cells that comprise the blood-brain barrier.

The cells are placed on a microfluidic BBB organ-chip about the size of an AA battery, which contains tiny hollow channels lined with tens of thousands of living human cells and tissues. This living, micro-engineered environment recreates the natural physiology and mechanical forces that cells experience within the human body, including the BBB.

The living cells recreate a functioning BBB, including blocking entry of certain drugs. Significantly, when this blood-brain barrier was derived from cells of patients with Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome, a rare congenital neurological disorder, and Huntington's disease patients, the barrier malfunctioned in the same way that it does in patients with these diseases.

The researchers said the BBB-on-chips generated from several individuals allows the prediction of the best suited brain drug in a personalized manner. The study's findings create dramatic new possibilities for precision medicine.

This is of particular importance for neurological diseases like epilepsy or schizophrenia, for which several FDA-approved drugs are available, but current treatment selections are largely based on trial and error.

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