Effects of Toxicants on Blood‐Brain Barrier Function in Resilient Versus Non‐resilient Mice

Environmental toxicants such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), benzo‐a‐pyrene (BaP) and 2, 3, 7, 8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin (TCDD) can damage brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs), the primary component of the blood‐brain barrier (BBB). It is largely unknown whether differences in BBB phenotype contribute to people’s susceptibility to the neurological effects of environmental toxicants. We used a mouse model of psychological resilience to investigate effects of environmental toxicants on BBB function. In this model, C57BL/6 and Balb/c mice display “resilient” and “non‐resilient” phenotypes, respectively. We hypothesized that BaP, TCDD, and PFOS will affect BMECs of C57BL/6 mice differently than the BMECs of the Balb/c mice.