ABSTRACT
Blood barriers serve as key points of transport for essential molecules as well as lines of defense to protect against toxins. In vitro modeling of these barriers is common practice in the study of their physiology and related diseases. This review describes a common method of using an adaptable, low cost, semipermeable, suspended membrane to experimentally model three blood barriers in the human body: the blood-brain barrier (BBB), the gut-blood barrier (GBB), and the air-blood barrier (ABB). The GBB and ABB both protect from the outside environment, while the BBB protects the central nervous system from potential neurotoxic agents in the blood. These barriers share several commonalities, including the formation of tight junctions, polarized cellular monolayers, and circulatory system contact. Cell architectures used to mimic barrier anatomy as well as applications to study function, dysfunction, and response provide an overview of the versatility enabled by these cultural systems.
ABSTRACT
This article systematically reviews the literature pertaining to correlates of body dissatisfaction during pregnancy. A total of 8 electronic databases were searched and 251 papers identified, 56 of which met inclusion criteria. Full text scrutiny of these papers reduced the final list of reviewed papers to 22. Results of the review highlight that psychological factors were associated with body dissatisfaction during pregnancy, and noted the surfeit of studies examining the relationship was between body dissatisfaction and depression. It is concluded that the prevention of heightened body dissatisfaction during the reproductive phase will only be effective when models of risk factors have been examined systematically and rigorously.
