Imaging and interpreting cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in the human brain

COEX 

The movement of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is essential for brain health. These dynamics are closely linked to neuronal activity and cognitive and vigilance states, and are an important consideration for fMRI analyses. In addition, due to the critical role of CSF in waste clearance and brain function, understanding its properties is important for cognitive and clinical neuroscience. This lecture will provide an overview of how fMRI can measure CSF flow and its coupling to hemodynamics. It will then discuss mechanistic theories for how CSF and waste clearance are carried out in the brain. It will also discuss how these CSF signals can influence standard fMRI studies through unintended effects, and how they can be analyzed in fMRI data more broadly.