Research

Evidence for reduced lymphatic CSF absorption in the H-Tx rat hydrocephalus model

Matthias Rammling , Meenu Madan , Leena Paul , Babak Behnam and Jogi V Pattisapu

Hydrocephalus Research Laboratory, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA

author email corresponding author email

Cerebrospinal Fluid Research 2008, 5:15doi:10.1186/1743-8454-5-15

Published:	16 October 2008

Abstract

Background

There is mounting evidence that spinal fluid absorption takes place not only at the arachnoid villi, but also at several extracranial sites, which might serve as a reserve mechanism for, or be primarily involved in the absorption of CSF in hydrocephalus.

Methods

We compared the nasal lymphatic pathway in congenital Hydrocephalus-Texas (H-Tx) rats in unaffected and affected hydrocephalic (HC) siblings with that of control Sprague Dawley (SD) rat pups. The animals were examined after immediate post mortem injection of Evan's blue dye into the cisterna magna at 6 and 10 days of age. The specimens were evaluated for amount of dye penetration into the nasal passages.

Results

We found more dye visualization in the olfactory regions of control SD (14/16 at P6, 14/16 at P10) and unaffected H-Tx (13/17 at P6, 13/16 at P10) compared with HC animals (0/14 at P6, 3/15 at P10). This difference was more pronounced at 10 days of age. The dye was not visualized in the cervical lymph nodes or venous channels in these acute experiments.

Conclusion

The results of this study suggest that nasal lymphatic cerebrospinal fluid absorption is reduced in the H-Tx rat hydrocephalus model.