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Chip simulates brain barrier to test new drugs
- March 30, 2023
- Publicado por: ACCDIS
- Category: News
Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBC), together with researchers from Chile have developed a chip-like device that simulates the brain's blood-brain barrier to use to test and study drugs against Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases..
Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBC) have developed a chip-like device that simulates the brain's blood-brain barrier for use to test and study drugs against Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases..
Work, published by the scientific journal 'Journal of Nanobiotechnology', has been led by Mònica Mir and Anna Lagunas, both researchers from the IBEC Nanobioengineering group led by Josep Samitier and members of the Center for Biomedical Research in Network (CIBER-BBN).
According to the researchers, The system allows to study the functioning of this barrier before the drugs and to screen the most effective, avoiding animal testing.
The blood-brain barrier protects the brain from possible toxins in the blood, Delivers nutrients to brain tissues and filters harmful compounds from the brain back into the bloodstream, but, In addition to all these functions, It is also a physiological barrier that prevents drugs from reaching the brain., An obstacle to developing drugs against neurodegenerative diseases.
As explained by Lagunas, Most traditional cell culture methods used to study drug behavior do not adequately reproduce patients' physiology, and animals often do not generate results comparable to the response in humans., apart from the ethical problems associated with animal experimentation.
For this reason, The so-called 'organ-on-a-chip' platforms’ (OoC) are an alternative to traditional study methods, as they allow simulating the functioning of specific human organs on a microscopic scale.
Like this, the IBE has developed a chip that simulates the blood-brain barrier “that could be adapted to different studies involving the pathology of the human brain, Like many neurodegenerative diseases, in which the integrity of the blood-brain barrier is often compromised.”, said Lagunas.
“In addition, he added,, if they were incorporated into the chip, for example, patient-derived cells, This would allow a personalized study of the disease”.
“The physical characteristics of the device make it portable, Easy to use and could be mass-produced with future industrial deployment”, said Mònica Mir, who is also a professor of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Barcelona (UB), Co-author of the study.
The device, researchers from the University of Barcelona have also participated in the development of which, of the University of Chile and the Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases of Chile, is manufactured in a microfluidic system, that allows to manipulate and control fluids on a very small scale and analyze samples of small volumes.
It includes a three-dimensional culture of different types of cells of human origin that form an endothelial barrier structure., which has the function of separating blood from adjacent tissues.
This structure mimics the human blood-brain barrier and presents more careful permeability values than current standard models.
The model also incorporates a system of microelectrodes that allow monitoring the integrity and permeability of the endothelial barrier before and after administering drugs.
To validate chip operation, The researchers have used a nanometric system to deliver drugs previously developed by the Marcelo J. Kogan at the University of Chile.
These are gold nanoparticles that facilitate the permeation of the drug through the blood-brain barrier and bind to the so-called amyloid beta fibers, molecules formed in Alzheimer's disease, disaggregating them. EFE
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