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Using Flow to Improve Clinical Relevance in Blood Brain Barrier Models

Kirkstall’s Quasi Vivo® system aims to establish and optimise a human in vitro 3D Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) in an effort to identify important mechanistic pathways for successful biomarker analysis, drug delivery and toxicity testing.

ASSESSMENT OF BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER MODELS IN QUASI VIVO®

Brain applications within the Quasi Vivo System
  • Blood Brain Barrier models are required for research into drug delivery

 

  • Existing in vitro tests do not accurately mimic the physiological environment of the in vivo interaction between the blood and the brain tissue. One important missing factor is the presence of interstitial flow on both sides of the cell membrane.

 

  • Kirkstall’s Quasi Vivo® system allows the application of physiologically relevant flow rates.
There are limitations of traditional static cultures and animal models: static cultures only partially replicate normal biological processes, impacting on the utility and reliability of the resultant data. It is difficult to extrapolate data from animal models to the human in vivo environment.

COMPONENTS

  • Quasi Vivo® QV600 chambers and accessories: tubing, reservoir bottles.
  • Parker 2 head peristaltic pump ( 6 head also available)
  • Cell types used to model BBB interaction:
  • Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells (HBECs);
  • Human Brain Vascular Pericyte Cells (HBVPs);
  • Human Brain Astrocyte Cells (HAs).
QV600 with insert
Quasi Vivo® Parker 2 head pump

DIAGRAM OF THE BBB MODEL IN A QV600 CHAMBER

Diagram of QV600 chamber co-culturing three different cell types to model the BBB
Quasi Vivo 600 barrier model
Photo of complete system including Parker 2 head pump, QV600 chambers set up for a liquid-liquid interface, and reservoir bottles.
QV600 Complete System - liquid/liquid

MTT ASSAY COMPARING HBVPs & HBECs UNDER DIFFERENT MEDIA CONDITIONS AND WITH FLOW

Pericytes had increased viability in conditioned medium, and had the same viability in both static and flow conditions. The viability of endothelial cells was unaffected by conditioned medium but improved with flow.

Our BBB model, consisting of conditioned medium and flow is therefore ideal for these two cell types. Data taken from Miranda-Azpiazu P., Panagiotou S., et al. A novel in vitro 3D blood brain barrier model for comprehensive drug permeability and toxicity testing.

Paper presented at: Advances in Cell and Tissue Culture; 15/06/15; Pisa, Italy.

MTT ASSAY COMPARING HBVPs & HBECs UNDER DIFFERENT MEDIA CONDITIONS AND WITH FLOW

CONCLUSION

Quasi Vivo® provides a complete system for improvement of blood brain barrier models. Along with our flow systems and pumps, we also provide a complete training and support package to help you through your experiments, from planning to execution.

Quasi Vivo® is compatible with many 3D cell culture protocols, and can be integrated into your laboratory with ease. This advanced in vitro technique is physiologically relevant, making your data more applicable to the human situation.

Quasi Vivo® used in 100+ labs worldwide, getting started is easy and cost effective

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    Address: Kirkstall, Ltd York House,
    Outgang Lane, York
    North Yorkshire, YO19 5UP

    Phone: + 44 (0) 1709 361 241

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