Human blood-brain barrier endothelial cells derived from pluripotent stem cells and blood-brain barrier model thereof

A method of producing a blood brain barrier model from endothelial cells, comprising the steps of:

• (a) growing human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), wherein all the hPSCs are grown adherently on an extracellular matrix;
• (b) inducing differentiation of the hPSCs by culturing the hPSCs in unconditioned medium on the extracellular matrix for a sufficient amount of time until the endothelial cells form from the hPSCs and endothelial cell (EC) regions are observed, wherein no fibroblast growth factor (FGF) is present in the unconditioned medium, and
• (c) expanding the EC regions by culturing the endothelial cells in EC medium, wherein the expanded endothelial cells are glucose transporter+(GLUT-1+), platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule+(PECAM-1+), claudin-5+, occludin+, zonula occludens-1+(ZO-1+) and p-glycoprotein+, wherein the EC regions are purified after step (b), and
• the method additionally comprising the step of growing the endothelial cells of step (c) to confluent monolayers of the endothelial cells, wherein the blood brain barrier model is obtained, wherein the blood brain barrier model is evinced by expression of various blood-brain barrier transporters.