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BY-NC-ND 3.0 license Open Access Published by De Gruyter March 25, 2010

Flavonoid transport across RBE4 cells: A blood-brain barrier model

  • Ana Faria EMAIL logo , Diogo Pestana , Diana Teixeira , Joana Azevedo , Victor Freitas , Nuno Mateus and Conceição Calhau

Abstract

There is a growing interest in dietary therapeutic strategies to combat oxidative stress-induced damage to the Central Nervous System (CNS), which is associated with a number of pathophysiological processes, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and cerebrovascular diseases. Identifying the mechanisms associated with phenolic neuroprotection has been delayed by the lack of information concerning the ability of these compounds to enter the CNS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the transmembrane transport of flavonoids across RBE-4 cells (an immortalized cell line of rat cerebral capillary endothelial cells) and the effect of ethanol on this transport. The detection and quantification of all of the phenolic compounds in the studied samples (basolateral media) was performed using a HPLC-DAD (Diode Array Detector). All of the tested flavonoids (catechin, quercetin and cyanidin-3-glucoside) passed across the RBE-4 cells in a time-dependent manner. This transport was not influenced by the presence of 0.1% ethanol. In conclusion, the tested flavonoids were capable of crossing this blood-brain barrier model.

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Published Online: 2010-3-25
Published in Print: 2010-6-1

© 2010 University of Wrocław, Poland

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

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