Journal
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 6, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS RESEARCH FOUNDATION
DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2012.00044
Keywords
blood-brain barrier; drug targeting; blood cells; cell surface charge; zeta-potential
Categories
Funding
- Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia-Ministerio da Educacao e Ciencia (FCT-MEC, Portugal) [SFRH/BD/42158/2007, SFRH/BD/41750/2007, SFRH/BD/70423/2010, PTDC/QUI-BIQ/119509/2010]
- Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (European Commission) [FP7-PEOPLE-2007-3-1-IAPP, 230654]
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [SFRH/BD/42158/2007, SFRH/BD/70423/2010, SFRH/BD/41750/2007, PTDC/QUI-BIQ/119509/2010] Funding Source: FCT
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Mammalian cell membranes regulate homeostasis, protein activity, and cell signaling. The charge at the membrane surface has been correlated with these key events. Although mammalian cells are known to be slightly anionic, quantitative information on the membrane charge and the importance of electrostatic interactions in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics remain elusive. Recently, we reported for the first time that brain endothelial cells (EC) are more negatively charged than human umbilical cord cells, using zeta-potential measurements by dynamic light scattering. Here, we hypothesize that anionicity is a key feature of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and contributes to select which compounds cross into the brain. For the sake of comparison, we also studied the membrane surface charge of blood components-red blood cells (RBC), platelets, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). To further quantitatively correlate the negative zeta-potential values with membrane charge density, model membranes with different percentages of anionic lipids were also evaluated. From all the cells tested, brain cell membranes are the most anionic and those having their lipids mostly exposed, which explains why lipophilic cationic compounds are more prone to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available