Modelling BBB

I was disussing about molecular shuttles/ cargos to transport potent theraputic agents across BBB.
Here a recent paper i saw in Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 6, 650, 2007. It is an extensive review regarding various In vivo and in vitro methods to study and assess BBB function. Very good review on the modelling of in vitro BBB a simplification of in vivo situation. Modelling of BBB have several advantages among that the most important is for making early perdections about the brain uptake of the potential drug candidate and to study the effect of therapeutic interventions at the level of cerebral capillaries.
These kind of models also access the risk of taking the molecules further into the clinical study, as many promising drug candidates fail to pass BBB. So these models can be preformed at the industry level before spending money and effort on potential drug candidate to take it further.
A well charaterised in vitro BBB cell model can also provide a valuable tool for studying the mechanestic aspects of transport as well as biological process.

So in the coming weeks i hope i will post more citations in the area of BBB, CNS, Neurochemistry and Neurodegenarative diseases.

It is a long weekend in sydney. Have a nice time.
Ahamed.