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Posted: **Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:05 am**

Again, not strictly CCSVI but somewhat related.

The brain's buffer

As well as delivering oxygen to the brain, cerebral blood flow has another vital role: the circulation and production of cerebrospinal fluid. This clear liquid surrounds the brain, carrying the nutrients that feed it and removing the waste it produces, including the tau and beta-amyloid proteins that have been implicated in the formation of plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's (Cerebrospinal Fluid Research, vol 5, p 10).

How blood flow influences cerebrospinal fluid flow can be gauged from something called "cranial compliance", a measure of the elasticity of the brain's vascular system. "The cranium is a bony cavity of fixed volume, with the brain taking up most of the space," says Robin Kennett, a neurophysiologist from the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals in the UK. "Every time the heart beats and sends blood into the cranium, something else has to come out to prevent the pressure rising to levels that would damage the brain." So, as fresh blood flows into the brain's blood vessels, cerebrospinal fluid flows out into the space around the spinal cord through a hole in the base of the skull called the foramen magnum.

As we age, the proteins in the brain harden, preventing this system from working as it should. As a result, the flow of both blood and cerebrospinal fluid is reduced, impairing the delivery of oxygen and nutrients as well as the removal of waste. Moskalenko's research suggests that this normally begins between the ages of 40 and 50. Moreover, in a study of 42 elderly people with dementia, he found that the severity of their cognitive disorder was strongly correlated with cranial compliance: those with the severest dementia had the lowest compliance (International Journal of Psychophysiology, vol 69, p 307). "Cranial compliance is a significant component of the origin of certain cases of brain pathology," he says.

Read the whole article, you won't know if Moskalenko is a genius or is plain crazy.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... ation.html

Posted: **Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:25 pm**

Well that is just plain a great bit of quote there Fernando. I like that a lot.

There is a formula that has to be adhered to for the brain .

It is volume of the brain is parenchyma (brain tissue)+blood+CSF and this ALWAYS has to be the same volume. If you get extra blood in there then something else has to go or else the brain tissue ends up under pressure.

The reason is the skull is one size fits only one volume of stuff. You can't have things loose and sloshy in there, or your brain would get hurt from moving back and forth, and you can't pack extra in there either.

This formula sort of suggests that necessarily venous hypertension would cause problems, we know for sure that hydrocephalus and normal pressure hydrocephalus result in brain damage, and those are issues of extra fluid.

it all adds up. It has since day one been a good hypothesis, it will be great to watch the research go forward as more is learned and discovered.
marie

Posted: **Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:16 am**

Thanks Marie. I always find your comments insightful and interesting. You are a very smart woman.

From Cheer's notes:

Dr. Weinstock-Guttman

Cerebrospinal fluid dynamics are dependent on venous drainage. It is a balance between CSF ultrafiltration from the veins of the lateral ventricles and the CSF reabsorption.

The velocity of the CSF- the average net CSF flow in MS patients was strongly associated with a retrograde flow- velocity is lower in both directions in MS

Data on CSF flow and the accumulation of lesions: Lower CSF pressure shows a correlation to lesion volume.

This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

A hole in the skull (not CCSVI, just interesting)

A hole in the skull (not CCSVI, just interesting)