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Publication
Recent developments in microfluidic technologies for central nervous system targeted studies
| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
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| 3.32 MB | Adobe PDF |
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) bear a lot of weight in public health. By studying
the properties of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and its fundamental interactions with the central
nervous system (CNS), it is possible to improve the understanding of the pathological mechanisms
behind these disorders and create new and better strategies to improve bioavailability and therapeutic
efficiency, such as nanocarriers. Microfluidics is an intersectional field with many applications.
Microfluidic systems can be an invaluable tool to accurately simulate the BBB microenvironment, as
well as develop, in a reproducible manner, drug delivery systems with well-defined physicochemical
characteristics. This review provides an overview of the most recent advances on microfluidic
devices for CNS-targeted studies. Firstly, the importance of the BBB will be addressed, and different
experimental BBB models will be briefly discussed. Subsequently, microfluidic-integrated BBB models
(BBB/brain-on-a-chip) are introduced and the state of the art reviewed, with special emphasis on their
use to study NDs. Additionally, the microfluidic preparation of nanocarriers and other compounds for
CNS delivery has been covered. The last section focuses on current challenges and future perspectives
of microfluidic experimentation.
Description
Keywords
Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) Blood-brain barrier (BBB) Central nervous system (CNS) Microfluidics Organ-on-a-chip Brain-on-a-chip Brain delivery Drug delivery Nanoparticles (NPs) Nanocarriers