In Vitro Models Could Improve Drug Development for Nervous System Diseases

Human stem cells can be used to produce an accurate in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier, according to a study published in PLoS ONE. The blood brain barrier is a network of cells separating the brain from the blood circulating through the body.

This area of study is important for developing therapeutics for diseases of the central nervous system, as many drugs are unable to cross this barrier. Unlike previous blood brain barrier models using cells from other species, stem cells from umbilical cord blood provide a stable and highly reproducible human-relevant system for studying the transport of drugs into the brain.