Archived Comments for:
Evidence of connections between cerebrospinal fluid and nasal lymphatic vessels in humans, non-human primates and other mammalian species
Did the subarachnoid Microfil appear in arachnoid granulations and/or in dural wall tissues of cavernous sinus?
Competing interests
None declared
Scaling issues
Samuel Neff, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children
17 February 2005
This article confirms a popular explanation for the clinical observation that children with acute hydrocephalus (usually due to malfunction of an implanted CSF shunt) often have "swollen" eyes noted by their parents. I hope the authors are successful in additional human studies, so we can understand the range of variation in these channels.
An important clinical issue is the effect of brain size and size ratios on the application of these results. Many small mammals have brains that are comparable to (or within an order of magnitude of) the size of their eyes. Similarly, many large mammals have brains that are comparable in size to their peripheral olfactory systems. In humans, conversely, the brain is 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than either of these organs. So, the importance of these pathways in humans may be relatively small, not because they do not exist, but because there is so much more (CSF-producing) brain proportionately present.
Fluids and Barriers of the CNS
Microfil marker in SAS
7 February 2005
Important work. Well done.
Did the subarachnoid Microfil appear in arachnoid granulations and/or in dural wall tissues of cavernous sinus?
Competing interests
None declared
Scaling issues
17 February 2005
This article confirms a popular explanation for the clinical observation that children with acute hydrocephalus (usually due to malfunction of an implanted CSF shunt) often have "swollen" eyes noted by their parents. I hope the authors are successful in additional human studies, so we can understand the range of variation in these channels.
An important clinical issue is the effect of brain size and size ratios on the application of these results. Many small mammals have brains that are comparable to (or within an order of magnitude of) the size of their eyes. Similarly, many large mammals have brains that are comparable in size to their peripheral olfactory systems. In humans, conversely, the brain is 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than either of these organs. So, the importance of these pathways in humans may be relatively small, not because they do not exist, but because there is so much more (CSF-producing) brain proportionately present.
Competing interests
None.