The current understanding of cerebral waste clearance (CWC) involves CSF participation but lacks the direct participation of the parenchymal vascular system. We used SPIO-enhanced SWI on rats to simultaneously study parenchymal veins, arteries and their corresponding para-vascular spaces, and observed not only CSF participation, but also parenchymal venous participation in CWC following intra-cisterna magna infusion of CSF tracers. These results lead to the speculation of a new CWC mechanism with directional brain parenchyma-to-blood permeability. The substantial role of the parenchymal venous system in CWC raises intriguing questions on the differential contributions of parenchymal venous versus CSF pathways in neurodegenerative disease.
This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.