Nature Communications· 2018Q1
Flow of cerebrospinal fluid is driven by arterial pulsations and is reduced in hypertension
- 1,125citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2018year
Short summary
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow in brain perivascular spaces (PVSs) is primarily driven by arterial pulsations, with flow speed matching arterial wall motion, suggesting a 'perivascular pumping' mechanism.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- CSF flow in brain PVSs is pulsatile and driven by the cardiac cycle.
- CSF flow speed matches arterial wall speed, indicating perivascular pumping.
- Hypertension alters arterial wall pulsations, reducing net CSF flow.
- In vivo study avoids fixation artifacts that reduce PVS size 10-fold.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) through perivascular spaces (PVSs) in the brain is important for clearance of metabolic waste. Arterial pulsations are thought to drive flow, but this has never been quantitatively shown. We used particle tracking to quantify CSF flow velocities in PVSs of live mice. CSF flow is pulsatile and driven primarily by the cardiac cycle. The speed of the arterial wall matches that of the CSF, suggesting arterial wall motion is the principal driving mechanism, via a process known as perivascular pumping. Increasing blood pressure leaves the artery diameter unchanged but changes the pulsations of the arterial wall, increasing backflow and thereby reducing net flow in the PVS. Perfusion-fixation alters the normal flow direction and causes a 10-fold reduction in PVS size. We conclude that particle tracking velocimetry enables the study of CSF flow in unprecedented detail and that studying the PVS in vivo avoids fixation artifacts.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Nature Communications, 2018 · DOI ↗
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Field: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Cellular and Molecular NeuroscienceNeuroscience