The blood brain barrier (BBB) plays a key role in regulating the homeostasis of the central nervous system (CNS). BBB disruption is a hallmark of various neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The non-cellular constituent, the basal lamina, is largely understudied compared to the cellular components due to its intrinsic complexity and lacking research tools. This thesis has two parts. In the first part, I review the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases and how the BL changes in these diseases. In the second part, I discuss my work optimizing a decellularization procedure within my laboratory. Decellularization is a clear and impartial technique utilizing complete removal of cellular matter and isolation of the BL. Here, I discuss the steps and results taken to troubleshoot and improve our protocols to fully remove cells and maintain vascular morphology, as well as future direction in the field.
