Linfeng Wu, Departments of Surgery, Pennsylvania State University, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033 and Tao L. Lowe, Departments of Surgery, Bioengineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033.
The blood brain barrier (BBB) poses a big challenge for cerebral drug delivery since it is composed of a tightly packed capillary endothelial cell monolayer, preventing the passage of many substances. Recently, we developed a biodegradable nanogel using the Michael addition reaction. Beta-cyclodextrin was integrated in the nanogels in order to increase the payload of hydrophobic drugs. Permanently charged quaternary ammonium groups were also integrated in the nanogels. We used bovine brain microvascular endothelial cells (BBMVECs) monolayer as an in vitro BBB model to evaluate the permeability of the nanogels towards the BBB. In vitro cytotoxicity was also conducted on these nanogels.