Biological Barriers in Health and Disease
A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 112625
Special Issue Editors
Interests: Biological barriers in health and disease—most work on the blood–brain barrier, kidney and lung epithelia. Development of in vitro models under static and dynamic flow systems; comprehensive characterization of barrier models with regard to the paracellular, transport and metabolic barrier; disease models with a focus on qualification and cross-validation of in vivo models (e.g., stroke, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease and chronic inflammation), application for drug transport and elucidation of transport mechanisms, disease models and investigation of underlying mechanisms, cross-talk between barrier-forming cells and their microenvironment, influence of shear stress, application of disease models for the development of therapeutic strategies and their evaluation in accordance with in vivo models; development of biological barriers; species differences of biological barriers; blood–saliva barrier including epithelia of oral mucosa and salivary glands
Interests: transport proteins in physiological barriers being relevant for drug transport; ABC-transporter signaling; development of colloidal carriers, such as surface decorated liposomes and nanoparticles to improve CNS drug delivery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: blood-brain barrier; blood-brain barrier dysfunction; brain endothelial protection; targeted drug delivery; targeted nanoparticle; BBB transporters; BBB transcytosis; organ-on-chip models
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Biological barriers protect organs and tissues from physical, chemical and biological damage and maintain homeostasis within the tissues. In this context, they also represent important interfaces between organs and their "outside world", such as air or body fluids (e.g., blood and saliva). The main components of biological barriers are either endothelial or epithelial cell layers. The function of these cell layers is highly regulated by their microenvironment, which includes neighboring cell types and the extracellular matrix or physical stimuli such as shear stress exerted by blood flow. It is known that the functionality of biological barriers is altered in many diseases. These functional changes affect the paracellular barrier, active transport of molecules, the metabolic barrier, but also the signaling between the body fluid and the tissue, and the clearance of waste from the tissues. It is assumed that changes in biological barriers are not only symptoms but also causally related to disease progression. In addition, biological barriers can be direct targets for therapeutic approaches. They also determine the permeability of biomarkers from the tissue into the body fluid but can also release biomarkers themselves.
This Special Issue serves to highlight the role of biological barriers in health and disease with a focus on in silico, in vitro and in vivo animal and human data, contributing to the translation from the animal to human situation. We accept all articles related to biological barriers including in vitro model development with a focus on multicellular and microfluidic systems, pathogen-host interactions, drug permeability, drug actions, therapeutic strategy evaluations, drug delivery systems, novel disease models, signaling pathways and omics data.
Dr. Winfried Neuhaus
Prof. Dr. Gert Fricker
Dr. Mária A. Deli
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- drug transport
- transport protein regulation
- blood–brain barrier
- epithelial barriers
- gut barrier
- respiratory barriers
- blood–saliva barrier
- cell culture, organoid and chip models
- biological barriers and pathological changes
- protection of biological barriers in diseases
- targeted drug delivery systems and nanoparticles to cross barriers
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
