Introduction about Central Nervous System (CNS)
Central Nervous System (CNS) is made of specialized cells that lie at the interface between blood and nervous tissues, forming the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and between blood and cerebrospinal fluid, forming the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). These specialized cells express transmembrane proteins with which they can seal off the intercellular space protecting brain tissues from micro-organisms, toxic compounds, and fluctuations in the bloodstream that can disrupt synaptic transmission allowing the brain to efficiently perform its vital functions. The BBB is considered as the primary contributor to the brain's strict permeability due to its larger surface area and its faster blood flow rate in comparison to BCSFB.
Creative Biolabs helps you to build in vitro blood- cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) model systems, which make you better understand pharmacokinetics/toxicokinetics of active molecules in CNS. We also give you the most reliable analysis results in psychotropic drug development.
Fig.1 Showing presence of blood-brain barrier at the blood capillary endothelium that obstructs drug delivery to CNS. (Kant, 2014)
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In pharmacological methods, lipid carriers or liposomes are used for drug delivery. Physiological strategies are followed by applying endogenous transport mechanisms by using either carrier-mediated transport of nutrients or receptor-mediated transport of peptides. Regardless of the delivery strategies, it is necessary to understand how the drug is transported in CNS.
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Receptor Analysis and Histological Localization of Receptors
The receptor-mediated transcytosis (RMT) is a vesicular transcellular route by which various macromolecules are transported across a barrier, typically formed by a cell monolayer. This process is particularly important for brain delivery of essential macromolecules, including transferrin and insulin, across the BBB.
The CNS comprises only two generalized cell types, namely neurons and glial cells, but each exhibits considerable heterogeneity. The use of in situ hybridization techniques, coupled with cell-specific staining methods, allows definitive identification of the localization of expression of specific genes.
Although the methods of in situ hybridization generally provide descriptive information, insights into the function of specific gene products can be gained from knowledge of their particular cell-type localization. This is especially true for studies aimed at determining the function of chemokines and chemokine receptors in the CNS.
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Choroid Plexus (CP) Epithelial Cells in Vitro
The increasing research effort in understanding pharmacokinetics/toxicokinetics of active molecules in the CSF, a central milieu of the CNS, and in discovering the etiology and therapy of neurodegenerative diseases demands appropriate in vitro blood-CSF model systems that allow for characterizing the transport property of interested molecules across the BCSFB.
Although the barrier effect of CNS can maintain the stability of the brain environment, it can also prevent the therapeutic effect of drugs when encountering diseases. Creative Biolabs focuses on psychiatric drug development services. We provide a complete set of services from experimental design to result from analysis. If you have any questions, please contact us.
Reference
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Kant, U. R. Drug Delivery Systems, CNS Protection, and the Blood-Brain Barrier. Biomed Research International. 2014, 2014:37. Distributed under Open Access license CC BY 3.0, without modification.
For Research Use Only.
