title: A method for evaluating nanoparticle transport through the blood-brain barrier in vitro.
abstract: Blood-brain barrier (BBB) represents a formidable barrier for many therapeutic drugs to enter the brain tissue. The development of new strategies for enhancing drug delivery to the brain is of great importance in diagnostics and therapeutics of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. In this context, nanoparticles are an emerging class of drug delivery systems that can be easily tailored to deliver drugs to various compartments of the body, including the brain. To identify, characterize, and validate novel nanoparticles applicable to brain delivery, in vitro BBB model systems have been developed. In this work, we describe a method to screen nanoparticles with variable size and surface functionalization in order to define the physicochemical characteristics underlying the design of nanoparticles that are able to efficiently cross the BBB.
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Health Care@CRIB, Italian Institute of Technology, IIT, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guarnieri
authors.forename: Ornella
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Muscetti
authors.forename: Paolo A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Netti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000378:metabolism*; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D015194:Diffusion Chambers, Culture; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D017097:Electric Impedance; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D019108:Tight Junctions / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D011137:Polystyrenes