Total cerebral blood volume changes drive macroscopic cerebrospinal fluid flux in humans
In the mammalian brain, the directed motion of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF-flux) is instrumental in the distribution and removal of solutes. Changes in total cerebral blood volume (CBV) have been hypothesized to drive CSF-flux. We tested this hypothesis in two multimodal brain imaging experiments in healthy humans, in which we drove large changes in total CBV by neuronal burst-suppression under anesthesia or by transient global vasodilation in a hypercapnic challenge. We indirectly monitored CBV changes with a high temporal resolution based on associated changes in total brain volume by functional MRI (fMRI) and measured cerebral blood flow by arterial spin-labeling. Relating CBV-sensitive signals to fMRI-derived measures of macroscopic CSF flow across the basal cisternae, we demonstrate that increasing total CBV extrudes CSF from the skull and decreasing CBV allows its influx. Moreover, CSF largely stagnates when CBV is stable. Together, our results establish the direct coupling between total CBV changes and CSF-flux.
Authors
- Benedikt Zott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4537-7381)
- Rachel Nuttall (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2287-8303)
- Daniel Golkowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7569-7936)
- Christiane Eipert
- Juliana Zimmermann
- Christine Preibisch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4067-1928)
- Rüdiger Ilg
- Gerhard Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4903-0118)
- Clara Boudriot
- Gabriel Hoffmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5233-7532)
- Lena Schmitzer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1644-3335)
- Josef Priller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7596-0979)
- Dennis M. Hedderich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8994-5593)
- Jan Kufer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7923-3231)
- Christian Sorg
- Andreas Ranft (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0530-0796)
- Claus Zimmer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4805-9103)
- Stephan Kaczmarz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7694-7012)
- Sebastian Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4344-967X)
- Moritz Bonhoeffer
- Viktor Neumaier
Institutions
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- Institute for Advanced Study (DE)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PLoS Biology
- Published
- 2025-04-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003138
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.52
Funders
- Australian Government
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Technische Universität München
- Institute for Advanced Study, Technische Universität München