Peter Bork - Modelling brain efflux: Brain surface constraints

Fluid efflux from the brain plays an important role in solute waste clearance. Current experimental approaches provide little spatial information or data collection is limited due to short duration or low frequency of sampling. One approach shows tracer efflux to be independent of molecular size, indicating bulk flow, yet also decelerating like simple membrane diffusion. In an apparent contradiction to this report, other studies point to tracer efflux acceleration following infusions. In this talk, I will share a stylized advection-diffusion model for clearance of waste, which reconciles the apparent contradiction, and discuss methods to validate it with novel MRI data. Being stylized, it is also simple enough to permit a dimensional analysis which indicates that clearance of waste from the brain is governed by three dimensionless quantities including a potential bottle-neck for clearance due to transport across the surface membranes.