The blood-brain barrier (BBB) serves as a highly selective interface protecting the central nervous system (CNS) and shielding neural tissue from toxins in the bloodstream, yet its restrictive nature simultaneously poses a significant challenge for therapeutic drug delivery for CNS-related diseases. Consequently, sophisticated in vitro models that accurately mirror the human BBB are essential for evaluating barrier characteristics and drug permeation. Here, we characterize the SBAD0201 hiPSC line differentiated towards a brain microvascular endothelial-like phenotype, that mimics essential characteristics of the human BBB. Our analysis focused on the absolute and relative protein quantification of the transport-relevant targets transferrin receptor (TfR), major facilitator superfamily domain-containing protein 2 transporter (Mfsd2a) and low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 receptor (LRP1). This study employs a comparative approach with the well-established hCMEC/D3 cell line, a widely used in vitro BBB model. The multi-layered validation, including qRT-PCR, western blot and immunofluorescence, reveals that SBAD0201-derived cells achieve a more mature phenotype. Notably, this model exhibits enhanced barrier integrity and an enriched repertoire of BBB-relevant receptors. These results underline the potential of the SBAD0201 platform as a robust and physiologically relevant tool for CNS research.
König et al. (Fri,) studied this question.