Patent ID: 8417465

Claim:
A method for measuring the ability of a drug or drug delivery vehicle to cross a blood-brain barrier comprising the steps of: a) introducing a liquid containing the drug or drug delivery vehicle into a network inlet of an optically transparent plastic microfluidic chip, said microfluidic chip comprising: a network of interconnected flow channels in liquid communication with a network inlet and a network outlet, said flow channels having luminal cross-sectional dimensions of between 10 μm and 500 μm and a tissue space in liquid communication with a tissue space inlet and a tissue space outlet, said tissue space having cross-sectional luminal dimensions of between 100 μm and 1 cm wherein: the tissue space is separated from a lumen of at least one flow channel by a liquid permeable wall and is in liquid communication with the at least one flow channel through said liquid permeable wall; the luminal surfaces of the flow channels are coated with endothelial cells; and the luminal surfaces of the tissue space contains brain cells and/or cell growth media; b) causing the liquid containing the drug or drug delivery vehicle to move though the network of interconnected flow channels; and c) quantifying the amount of the drug or drug delivery vehicle reaching the tissue space.