Understanding how the BBB operates is crucial for drug development, as it impedes chemical molecules from reaching the CNS. Current non-primate BBB models fail to adequately recapitulate human BBB function because of species-specific differences (Aday et al., 2016, Hoshi et al., 2013, Syvänen et al., 2009, Warren et al., 2009). We therefore considered human iPSCs as a resource for creating a reproducible and robust human BBB model. Here, we generated hiPSC-derived BBB that expressed specific transporters and receptors and showed low permeability properties, suggesting that it could be used as a platform for initial drug screening before in vivo clinical tests.
