Human mini-blood-brain barrier models for biomedical neuroscience research: a review

Minh Tran; Chaejeong Heo; Luke P Lee; Hansang Cho

doi:10.1186/s40824-022-00332-z

Human mini-blood-brain barrier models for biomedical neuroscience research: a review

Biomater Res. 2022 Dec 16;26(1):82. doi: 10.1186/s40824-022-00332-z.

Authors

Minh Tran^{1

2

3}, Chaejeong Heo^{1

2

4}, Luke P Lee^{5

6

7

8

9}, Hansang Cho^{10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Quantum Biophysics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea.
² Department of Biophysics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea.
³ Department of Intelligent Precision Healthcare Convergence, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea.
⁴ Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics, Institute for Basic Science, Suwon, 16419, Korea.
⁵ Institute of Quantum Biophysics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea. lplee@bwh.harvard.edu.
⁶ Department of Biophysics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea. lplee@bwh.harvard.edu.
⁷ Department of Bioengineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. lplee@bwh.harvard.edu.
⁸ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. lplee@bwh.harvard.edu.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. lplee@bwh.harvard.edu.
¹⁰ Institute of Quantum Biophysics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea. h.cho@g.skku.edu.
¹¹ Department of Biophysics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea. h.cho@g.skku.edu.
¹² Department of Intelligent Precision Healthcare Convergence, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea. h.cho@g.skku.edu.

Abstract

The human blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a unique multicellular structure that is in critical demand for fundamental neuroscience studies and therapeutic evaluation. Despite substantial achievements in creating in vitro human BBB platforms, challenges in generating specifics of physiopathological relevance are viewed as impediments to the establishment of in vitro models. In this review, we provide insight into the development and deployment of in vitro BBB models that allow investigation of the physiology and pathology of neurological therapeutic avenues. First, we highlight the critical components, including cell sources, biomaterial glue collections, and engineering techniques to reconstruct a miniaturized human BBB. Second, we describe recent breakthroughs in human mini-BBBs for investigating biological mechanisms in neurology. Finally, we discuss the application of human mini-BBBs to medical approaches. This review provides strategies for understanding neurological diseases, a validation model for drug discovery, and a potential approach for generating personalized medicine.

Keywords: Blood–brain barrier; Human mini-brains; Neurological disorder; Personalized medicine.

Publication types

Review