Kim Brandon J, Schubert-Unkmeir Alexandra
Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1969:135-148. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9202-7_10.
Bacterial meningitis is a serious, life-threatening infection of the central nervous system (CNS). To cause meningitis, bacteria must interact with and penetrate the meningeal blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (mB/CSFB), which comprises highly specialized brain endothelial cells. Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis, and examination meningococcus' interaction with the BBB is critical for understanding disease progression. To examine specific interactions, in vitro mB/CSFB models have been developed and employed and are of great importance because in vivo models have been difficult to produce considering Neisseria meningitidis is exclusively a human pathogen. Most in vitro blood-brain barrier and mB/CSF models use primary and immortalized brain endothelial cells, and these models have been used to examine bacterial-mB/CSFB interactions by a variety of pathogens. This chapter describes the use of past and current in vitro brain endothelial cells to model Neisseria meningitidis interaction with the mB/CSFB, and inform on the standard operating procedure for their use.
细菌性脑膜炎是一种严重的、危及生命的中枢神经系统（CNS）感染。要引发脑膜炎，细菌必须与脑膜血脑屏障（mB/CSFB）相互作用并穿透该屏障，mB/CSFB由高度特化的脑内皮细胞组成。脑膜炎奈瑟菌（脑膜炎球菌）是细菌性脑膜炎的主要病因，研究脑膜炎球菌与血脑屏障的相互作用对于理解疾病进展至关重要。为了研究特定的相互作用，已经开发并应用了体外mB/CSFB模型，这些模型非常重要，因为考虑到脑膜炎奈瑟菌是唯一的人类病原体，很难建立体内模型。大多数体外血脑屏障和mB/CSF模型使用原代和永生化脑内皮细胞，这些模型已被用于研究多种病原体与细菌-mB/CSFB的相互作用。本章描述了过去和当前使用体外脑内皮细胞来模拟脑膜炎奈瑟菌与mB/CSFB相互作用的情况，并介绍其使用的标准操作程序。
