A comparison of the induction of immortalized endothelial cell impermeability by astrocytes

Abstract

The suitability of various commercially available endothelial cell lines in studies of astrocytic/endothelial cell interactions was assessed. The endothelial-like cell line ECV304 was compared with T24/83, Eahy929, and b.End5 and rat cerebral endothelial cells in their ability, when co-cultured with rat (C6) glioma cells, to form a transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER), an indicator of tight junction formation which is an important property of the blood-brain barrier. As reported previously, the basal TEER of ECV304 cell monolayers was significantly enhanced upon co-culture, an effect reproduced by human 1321N1 astrocytes and primary rat astrocytes. T24/83 cells formed a patchy, gapped monolayer, which produced a poor basal TEER with little in the way of an increase upon co-culture. Similarly, all the other cell monolayers analysed demonstrated poor TEERs that were only moderately increased upon co-culture. These data confirm that while no endothelial cell line with ideal features is available, ECV304 cells remain an appropriate choice especially for studies of astrocyte/endothelial cell interactions.

Fluvastatin prevents glutamate-induced blood-brain-barrier disruption in vitro

“…As human barrier model a co-culture of the cell lines ECV304 and C6 was used, although ECV304 are a nonendothelial epithelial cell line. Nevertheless, ECV304 show increased barrier integrity when co-cultured with the glial C6 cell line, similar to brain endothelial cells (Tan et al, 2001). Our data clearly indicate that glutamate is able to induce barrier disruption in a low-(ECV304; Fig.…”

Permeability Studies on In Vitro Blood–Brain Barrier Models: Physiology, Pathology, and Pharmacology

“…The rat C6 glioma cell line, which has been widely tested, was also effective in tightening the interendothelial junctions when cocultured with bovine, mouse, and porcine brain endothelial cells or with human ECV304 cell line (Table III). In a comparative study, human and rat astroglia, and C6 glioma cells were equally effective in raising a very low basal TEER of ECV304 monolayers (Tan et al, 2001; Table II). A recent paper reported that in vitro BBB models made from ECV304 and C6 cells purchased from two different commercial sources gave very different permeability results (Scism et al, 1999).…”

Intelligent Biomatrices and Engineered Tissue Constructs: In‐Vitro Models for Drug Discovery and Toxicity Testing

“…The barrier-generating effect of astrocytes can be separated into: (1) the secretion of a set of humoral growth factors that encourage barrier generation by acting on ECs [172]; and (2) an extension of "end-feet" bulbs to make direct contact with the ECs. Both these factors synergistically affect formation of the BBB-specifi c barrier function [173].…”