Abstract
The choroid plexuses (ChPs) perform indispensable functions for the development, maintenance and functioning of the brain. Although they have gained considerable interest in the last years, their involvement in brain disorders is still largely unknown, notably because their deep location inside the brain hampers non-invasive investigations. Imaging tools have become instrumental to the diagnosis and pathophysiological study of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. This review summarizes the knowledge that has been gathered from the clinical imaging of ChPs in health and brain disorders not related to ChP pathologies. Results are discussed in the light of pre-clinical imaging studies. As seen in this review, to date, most clinical imaging studies of ChPs have used disease-free human subjects to demonstrate the value of different imaging biomarkers (ChP size, perfusion/permeability, glucose metabolism, inflammation), sometimes combined with the study of normal aging. Although very few studies have actually tested the value of ChP imaging biomarkers in patients with brain disorders, these pioneer studies identified ChP changes that are promising data for a better understanding and follow-up of diseases such as schizophrenia, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Imaging of immune cell trafficking at the ChPs has remained limited to pre-clinical studies so far but has the potential to be translated in patients for example using MRI coupled with the injection of iron oxide nanoparticles. Future investigations should aim at confirming and extending these findings and at developing translational molecular imaging tools for bridging the gap between basic molecular and cellular neuroscience and clinical research.
Highlights
The choroid plexuses (ChPs) are small structures located in the lateral, third, and fourth brain ventricles
Morphological and functional changes in ChPs may be readily estimated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, all approaches being relatively widespread in clinical trials that make use of neuroimaging
The clinical assessment of ChP alterations associated with brain disorders using neuroimaging methods may be the necessary step to effective therapeutic targeting of these conditions
Summary
The choroid plexuses (ChPs) are small structures located in the lateral, third, and fourth brain ventricles. They are formed by numerous villi organized as a tight epithelium enclosing a highly vascularized stromal core that contains immune cells and fibroblasts. The ChPs produce the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), form a protective barrier between the blood and the CSF (the blood-CSF barrier, BCSFB) and secrete various biologically active molecules. They play a vital role in maintaining the microenvironment in which the brain is located (Ghersi-Egea et al, 2018). This effect may be related to increased water diffusion across the epithelium via paracellular spaces, signaling BCSFB malfunction
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