The blood-brain barrier studied in vitro across species.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is formed by brain capillary endothelial cells (BECs) supported by pericytes and astrocytes. The BBB maintains homeostasis and protects the brain against toxic substances circulating in the blood, meaning that only a few drugs can pass the BBB. Thus, for drug screening, understanding cell interactions, and pathology, in vitro BBB models have been developed using BECs from various animal sources.

A tumorsphere model of glioblastoma multiforme with intratumoral heterogeneity for quantitative analysis of cellular migration and drug response.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant type of primary brain tumor and is characterized by its sudden onset and invasive growth into the brain parenchyma. The invasive tumor cells evade conventional treatments and are thought to be responsible for the ubiquitous tumor regrowth. Understanding the behavior of these invasive tumor cells and their response to therapeutic agents could help improve patient outcome.

Targeted Vascular Drug Delivery in Cerebral Cancer.

This review presents the present-day literature on the anatomy and physiological mechanisms of the blood-brain barrier and the problematic of cerebral drug delivery in relation to malignant brain tumors. First step in treatment of malignant brain tumors is resection, but there is a high risk of single remnant infiltrative tumor cells in the outer zone of the brain tumor. These infiltrative single-cells will be supplied by capillaries with an intact BBB as opposed to the partly leaky BBB found in the tumor tissue before resection.