Advances in 3D neural, vascular and neurovascular models for drug testing and regenerative medicine

•Blood-brain barrier models still lack capacity to combine simplicity and performance.•Neural models are diverse resource-wise but still limited in characterization.•Intercellular interplay is still the main focus of neurovascular models.•Consolidated individual models must be combined to form novel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Drug discovery today 2021-03, Vol.26 (3), p.754-768
Main Authors: Fernandes, Diogo C., Reis, Rui L., Oliveira, J. Miguel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Blood-Brain Barrier - metabolism
Brain Diseases - drug therapy
Drug Development - methods
Drug Industry - methods
Humans
Models, Biological
Regenerative Medicine - methods
Tissue Distribution
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Summary:•Blood-brain barrier models still lack capacity to combine simplicity and performance.•Neural models are diverse resource-wise but still limited in characterization.•Intercellular interplay is still the main focus of neurovascular models.•Consolidated individual models must be combined to form novel neurovascular models. Clinical trials continue to fall short regarding drugs to effectively treat brain-affecting diseases. Although there are many causes of these shortcomings, the most relevant are the inability of most therapeutic agents to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and the failure to translate effects from animal models to patients. In this review, we analyze the most recent developments in BBB, neural, and neurovascular models, analyzing their impact on the drug development process by considering their quantitative and phenotypical characterization. We offer a perspective of the state-of-the-art of the models that could revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry.
ISSN:1359-6446
1878-5832
DOI:10.1016/j.drudis.2020.11.009