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A well-known in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier that is widely used in studies of neurodegenerative diseases and in preclinical research is made from the wrong kind of cells, according to claims made in a PNAS paper this month (February 4).
Researchers report in the study that cells produced using a popular lab protocol, which involves reprogramming human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), show gene expression patterns typical of the epithelial cells coating human organs, rather than of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) endothelial cells they’re supposed to mimic.
The authors of the paper, which has fueled debate in the BBB research community since it was first posted as a preprint on bioRxiv in 2019, say that the findings raise serious questions about the value of the model in ongoing neuroscience and drug studies. Other researchers, including the designers of the protocol, tell The Scientist that the ...
