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 braintissue. The development of new strategies for enhancing drug delivery to the brain is of great importancein diagnostics and therapeutics of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. In this context, nanoparticles arean emerging class of drug delivery systems that can be easily tailored to deliver drugs to various compartmentsof the body, including the brain. To identify, characterize, and validate novel nanoparticles applicableto brain delivery, in vitro BBB model systems have been developed. In this work, we describe a methodto screen nanoparticles with variable size and surface functionalization in order to defi ne the physicochemicalcharacteristics underlying the design of nanoparticles that are able to effi ciently cross the BBB.