Issue 19, 2022

Blood–brain barrier (BBB)-on-a-chip: a promising breakthrough in brain disease research

Abstract

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) represents a key challenge in developing brain-penetrating therapeutic molecules. BBB dysfunction is also associated with the onset and progression of various brain diseases. The BBB-on-a-chip (μBBB), an organ-on-chip technology, has emerged as a powerful in vitro platform that closely mimics the human BBB microenvironments. While the μBBB technology has seen wide application in the study of brain cancer, its utility in other brain disease models (“μBBB+”) is less appreciated. Based on the advances of the μBBB technology and the evolution of in vitro models for brain diseases over the last decade, we propose the concept of a “μBBB+” system and summarize its major promising applications in pathological studies, personalized medical research, drug development, and multi-organ-on-chip approaches. We believe that such a sophisticated “μBBB+” system is a highly tunable and promising in vitro platform for further advancement of the understanding of brain diseases.

Graphical abstract: Blood–brain barrier (BBB)-on-a-chip: a promising breakthrough in brain disease research

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
01 Eph 2022
Accepted
11 Aga 2022
First published
11 Aga 2022

Lab Chip, 2022,22, 3579-3602

Blood–brain barrier (BBB)-on-a-chip: a promising breakthrough in brain disease research

B. Peng, S. Hao, Z. Tong, H. Bai, S. Pan, K. Lim, L. Li, N. H. Voelcker and W. Huang, Lab Chip, 2022, 22, 3579 DOI: 10.1039/D2LC00305H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements