title: Effect of human astrocytes on the characteristics of human brain-microvascular endothelial cells in the blood-brain barrier.
abstract: A blood-brain barrier (BBB) model in vitro was established by cultivating human brain-microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) with the regulation of human astrocytes (HAs) (HBMEC/HA). Astrocyte-conditioned medium (ACM) was employed to constitute a confluent monolayer of HBMECs without directly conjugated HAs. HBMECs exhibited an orientated multiplication on the supporting membrane; while HAs grew in an overlapping fashion. In addition, HBMECs could propagate over the membrane pore, and the end-feet of HAs extended into the membrane pore to improve the integral feature of the BBB. HBMEC/HA demonstrated a high transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) about 230 Ω cm² and low permeability of propidium iodide (PI) about 4 × 10⁻⁶ cm/s. The order in TEER was HBMEC/HA>HBMECs with 100% ACM>HBMECs with 50% ACM > HBMECs. The reverse order was valid for the permeability of PI and uptake of calcein-AM by HBMECs. The tranwell culture of HBMECs and HAs displays appropriate characteristics of the BBB and can be applied to estimate the delivery efficiency of therapeutic chemicals for the brain-related disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi 62102, Taiwan, ROC. chmyck@ccu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Yung-Chih
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Chin-Hsun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000166:cytology*; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000494:pharmacology; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned