ABSTRACT
Disorders of the brain, including neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, Morbus Parkinson, brain tumors or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) related encephalopathy, belong to the principal causes of morbidity and death. For example, Alzheimer’s disease, which afflicts more than four million people at an annual cost of over 50 billion US$, is currently the third largest medical problem in the United States (Friden, 1996). A major problem in the management of these diseases is the limited access of drugs to the central nervous system (CNS) across the endothelial cells of brain capillaries, the so-called blood-brain barrier. Studying the cellular and molecular structure, as well as the function of this barrier is hampered because it is not directly accessible in vivo. At present, immense efforts are ongoing to develop representative cellular in vitro models that mimic the structural and functional characteristics of the blood-brain barrier. This article provides a short overview about a general scheme to isolate brain endothelial cells, to maintain their major properties and to study drug transport in vitro.
