Subcellular analysis of blood-brain barrier function by micro-impalement of vessels in acute brain slices

Amira Sayed Hanafy, Pia Steinlein, Julika Pitsch, Mariella Hurtado Silva, Natascha Vana, Albert J. Becker, Mark Evan Graham, Susanne Schoch, Alf Lamprecht () and Dirk Dietrich ()
Additional contact information
Amira Sayed Hanafy: University Hospital Bonn
Pia Steinlein: University Hospital Bonn
Julika Pitsch: University Hospital Bonn
Mariella Hurtado Silva: The University of Sydney
Natascha Vana: University Hospital Bonn
Albert J. Becker: University Hospital Bonn
Mark Evan Graham: The University of Sydney
Susanne Schoch: University Hospital Bonn
Alf Lamprecht: University of Bonn
Dirk Dietrich: University Hospital Bonn

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: Abstract The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a tightly and actively regulated vascular barrier. Answering fundamental biological and translational questions about the BBB with currently available approaches is hampered by a trade-off between accessibility and biological validity. We report an approach combining micropipette-based local perfusion of capillaries in acute brain slices with multiphoton microscopy. Micro-perfusion offers control over the luminal solution and allows application of molecules and drug delivery systems, whereas the bath solution defines the extracellular milieu in the brain parenchyma. Here we show, that this combination allows monitoring of BBB transport at the cellular level, visualization of BBB permeation of cells and molecules in real-time and resolves subcellular details of the neurovascular unit. In combination with electrophysiology, it permits comparison of drug effects on neuronal activity following luminal versus parenchymal application. We further apply micro-perfusion to the human and mouse BBB of epileptic hippocampi highlighting its utility for translational research and analysis of therapeutic strategies.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36070-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36070-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36070-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().