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Perivascular spaces include a variety of passageways around arterioles, capillaries and venules in the brain, along which a range of substances can move. Although perivascular spaces were first identified over 150 years ago, they have come to prominence recently owing to advances in knowledge of their roles in clearance of interstitial fluid and waste from the brain, particularly during sleep, and in the pathogenesis of small vessel disease, Alzheimer disease and other neurodegenerative and inflammatory disorders. Experimental advances have facilitated in vivo studies of perivascular space function in intact rodent models during wakefulness and sleep, and MRI in humans has enabled perivascular space morphology to be related to cognitive function, vascular risk factors, vascular and neurodegenerative brain lesions, sleep patterns and cerebral haemodynamics. Many questions about perivascular spaces remain, but what is now clear is that normal perivascular space function is important for maintaining brain health. Here, we review perivascular space anatomy, physiology and pathology, particularly as seen with MRI in humans, and consider translation from models to humans to highlight knowns, unknowns, controversies and clinical relevance.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/s41582-020-0312-z

Type

Journal article

Journal

Nature reviews. Neurology

Publication Date

03/2020

Volume

16

Pages

137 - 153

Addresses

Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, UK Dementia Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. Joanna.Wardlaw@ed.ac.uk.

Keywords

colleagues from the Fondation Leducq Transatlantic Network of Excellence on the Role of the Perivascular Space in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease, Animals, Humans, Brain Diseases, Glymphatic System