An In Vitro Blood-Brain Barrier Model to Study Firm Shear Stress-Resistant Leukocyte Adhesion to Human Brain Endothelial Cells

Adhesion between leukocytes and brain endothelial cells, which line cerebral blood vessels, is a key event in both physiological and pathological conditions such as neuroinflammatory diseases. Leukocyte recruitment from blood into tissues is described as a multistep process involving leukocyte rolling on endothelial cells, adhesion, crawling, and diapedesis under hemodynamic shear stress. In neuroinflammatory conditions, there is an increase in leukocyte adhesion to the brain endothelial cells, activated by proinflammatory molecules such as cytokines. Here, we describe an in vitro technique to study the interaction between human leukocytes with human brain endothelial cells under shear stress mimicking the blood flow in vivo, coupled to live-cell imaging.