The rate of transfer of glucose-coated gold nanoparticles across brain endothelium compared with non-brain endothelium.

(a) Brain endothelial hCMEC/D3 cells and human primary brain endothelium (1-BEC) were compared with a human bone marrow endothelial cell line (BMEC) and human primary coronary artery endothelium (CoAEC). The values show the number of nanoparticles per cell, located between the basal plasma membrane and the transwell insert 8 hrs after application to the apical surface. Values show mean ±SEM from at least 50 different cells, and two separate cultures. Note that the scale of the y-axis is expanded for the two non-brain endothelial cell types. (b) The bar chart shows the number of nanoparticles per micron of the basal membrane after 8 hrs (mean ±SEM) from the four different cell types. Data was analysed by Anova (P<0.05) followed by Tukey’s test to compare each pair of points. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001.