Human Cerebral Microvascular Endothelial

Immortalized Human Cerebral Microvascular Endothelial Cell Line (hCMEC/D3)

hCMEC/D3 Cell Line

The Human Cerebral Microvascular Endothelial Cell Line (hCMEC/D3) was prepared from cerebral microvessel endothelial cells (CECs) by transduction with lentiviral vectors carrying the SV40 T antigen and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). This cell line shows a spindle-shaped, elongated morphology similar to primary cultures of brain endothelial cells and also exhibits contact inhibition at confluence when cultured on collagen type I or IV. In addition, this line expresses a variety of brain endothelial markers, adherence junction (AJ) and tight junction (TJ) proteins as well as functional ABC transporters typical to brain epithelium.

hCMEC/D3 represents a stable, easily grown blood brain barrier (BBB) model cell line. It is ideal for drug uptake and active transport studies, as well as for understanding the brain endothelium response to various human pathogens and inflammatory stimuli.

Note: If properly maintained, the cells will replicate and maintain their BBB properties until the 35th subculture. When purchasing the cell line, you can expect to receive a vial with a passage number between 25–27.

Further details regarding this cell line can be found in the following paper:

• Weksler et al. (2005)

The datasheet for these products can be downloaded here.

An extensive reference list for the hCMEC/D3 cell line can be downloaded here.

Supplementary Figures

Expression of endothelial and BBB markers by hCMEC/D3 cells. (a) Phase-contrast image of confluent hCMEC/D3 cells. Confluent monolayers of hCMEC/D3 cells were stained for the endothelial junctional marker VE-cadherin (b) and for the junction associated proteins claudin-5 (c) and ZO-1 (d) (counterstained nuclei in blue).