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New research shows a critical function for a lesser known brain region and brain fluid to help heal the brain after injury.
How can brain fluid heal your brain?
It’s not the fluid itself but what’s in the fluid.
And what is brain fluid?
Yes, this may be an underestimated part of the brain and particularly a region called the choroid plexus.
The brain actually sits in a bath of what is known as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and this is also critical to brain health. That much is known but often we focus on the neurons and not this fluid. The choroid plexus, deep in the brain at the top of the spinal cord, is the main production site for CSF.
CSF is known to provide nourishment, help with waste removal (mostly during sleep), and protect the brain, and also may help with development of brain regions, not to mention supplying key molecules for function.
Ok so pretty important then — but does this help with brain repair?
Yes, this is precisely what Aleksandr Taranov et al. of the University of Cincinnati wanted to find out.