Autoradiographic observations in experimental communicating hydrocephalus.

Abstract

To study alternative pathways of cerebrospinal fluid movement and absorption in chronic communicating hydrocephalus, autoradiographs were performed on animals in which cisternograms had confirmed that chronic communicating hydrocephalus had been produced The autoradiographs showed transependymal migration of labeled albumin in the animals to such an extent as to suggest bulk flow. Radioactivity concentrated around the cerebral capillaries in the periventricular region. These findings correlated with the histologic changes of flattening and denudation of the ventricular ependyma and enlargement of the periventricular extracellular space. Transependymal absorption may explain the cisternographic patterns, periventricular edema, and some of the neurologic manifestations associated with chronic communicating hydrocephalus.