Abstract

During embryonic development and adult life, brain cavities and ventricles are filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF has attracted interest as an active signaling medium that regulates brain development, homeostasis and disease. CSF is a complex protein-rich fluid containing growth factors and signaling molecules that regulate multiple cell functions in the central nervous system (CNS). The composition and substance concentrations of CSF are tightly controlled. In recent years, it has been demonstrated that embryonic CSF (eCSF) has a key function as a fluid pathway for delivering diffusible signals to the developing brain, thus contributing to the proliferation, differentiation and survival of neural progenitor cells, and to the expansion and patterning of the brain. From fetal stages through to adult life, CSF is primarily produced by the choroid plexus. The development and functional activities of the choroid plexus and other blood–brain barrier (BBB) systems in adults and fetuses have been extensively analyzed. However, eCSF production and control of its homeostasis in embryos, from the closure of the anterior neuropore when the brain cavities become physiologically sealed, to the formation of the functional fetal choroid plexus, has not been studied in as much depth and remains open to debate. This review brings together the existing literature, some of which is based on experiments conducted by our research group, concerning the formation and function of a temporary embryonic blood–CSF barrier in the context of the crucial roles played by the molecules in eCSF.

Highlights

  • Many civilizations have developed along riverbanks and seashores, in order to use the fluid medium to promote cohesion and transport, and to favor the survival of the people living at its edge

  • Taken together, all of these findings seem to confirm that a blood–embryonic CSF (eCSF) barrier function controls eCSF composition and homeostasis from early stages of brain development in chick embryos

  • It has been proposed that a similar blood–eCSF barrier is present in mammals at the equivalent brain development stages (Parvas and Bueno, 2010a,b)

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

Many civilizations have developed along riverbanks and seashores, in order to use the fluid medium to promote cohesion and transport, and to favor the survival of the people living at its edge. The first reports to use conventional proteomic techniques (2D-electrophoresis, in-gel digestion, and ESI-MS/MS mass spectrometry analysis) on chick and rat eCSF at E4 and E12.5, respectively, which correspond to the developmental stages in which brain development is characterized by maximum neuroepithelial progenitor cell proliferation and the beginning of neural differentiation, showed the presence of dozens of different specific proteins within this fluid, most of which may be involved in brain development (Parada et al, 2005a, 2006) These proteins were classified into several different groups according to their functional characteristics, as previously reported in systems other than eCSF (Table 1). Interpreting these different results is complex because of the different classifications used (see Table 1), and the fact that some gene products may correspond to different functional groups in different studies, it is evident that eCSF acts as

Human eCSF
Findings
CONCLUSION
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