Head movement, an important contributor to human cerebrospinal fluid circulation

Abstract

The suboccipital muscles are connected to the upper cervical spinal dura mater via the myodural bridges (MDBs). Recently, it was suggested that they might work as a pump to provide power for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation. The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of the suboccipital muscles contractions on the CSF flow. Forty healthy adult volunteers were subjected to cine phase-contrast MR imaging. Each volunteer was scanned twice, once before and once after one-minute-head-rotation period. CSF flow waveform parameters at craniocervical junction were analyzed. The results showed that, after the head rotations, the maximum and average CSF flow rates during ventricular diastole were significantly increased, and the CSF stroke volumes during diastole and during entire cardiac cycle were significantly increased. This suggested that the CSF flow was significantly promoted by head movements. Among the muscles related with head movements, only three suboccipital muscles are connected to the upper cervical spinal dura mater via MDBs. It was believed that MDBs might transform powers of the muscles to CSF. The present results suggested that the head movements served as an important contributor to CSF dynamics and the MDBs might be involved in this mechanism.

The myodural bridge in the common rock pigeon (Columbia livia): Morphology and possible physiological implications

“…Considering the location of attachment of the myodural bridge to the dorsal spinal dura mater, adjacent to the cerebello‐medullary cistern, which is the largest subarachnoid cistern, we presume that the myodural bridge functions to maintain the integrity of the cerebello‐medullary cistern (Scali et al, , ) and that the contraction of the myodural bridge via the rectus capitis dorsalis minor muscle may have a function that is related to the circulation of the cerebrospinal fluid (Sui et al, ; Xu et al, ). A biomechanical study has demonstrated that the contraction of the rectus capitis posterior minor muscle causes posterior displacement of the dura mater via the myodural bridge (Venne et al, ).…”

“…Clinical studies by Yuan et al () revealed that patients of chronic cervicogenic headache have a hypertrophic M. rectus capitis posterior minor and that the myodural bridge may be implicated in this type of headache. Other hypothesized functions of the myodural bridge is the maintaining of the integrity of the cerebello‐medullary cistern (Scali et al, ; Scali, Pontell, Nash, & Enix, ) and acts as a cerebrospinal fluid pump (Hallgren, Hack, & Lipton, ; Sui et al, ; Xu et al, ).…”

Relationship between the sectional area of the rectus capitis posterior minor and the to be named ligament from 3D MR imaging

“…However, its functional role through the MDB is still not fully elucidated [2]. Several reports have shown that changes in the SA of the RCPmi muscle are correlated with the severity of cervicocephalic pain syndrome, mTBI and headache syndrome [10][11][12][13][14]. Accordingly, it is crucial to accurately document the SA of the RCPmi to determine its influence.…”

“…It has been recently confirmed as a conserved structure in mammals [7][8][9]. The MDB has a critical role in transmitting tensile force from its muscular and ligamentous components to the SDM, which has an essential role in the etiology of headache and cervicocephalic pain syndrome [10][11][12][13][14]. The rectus capitis posterior minor (RCPmi) was the first suboccipital muscle identified to attach to the dorsal cervical SDM at the posterior atlanto-occipital (PAO) interval [1].…”

The role of motile cilia in the development and physiology of the nervous system

“…Pressure changes may also be contributed by the cardiac [135,160] and respiratory cycles [160,161]. Interestingly, bodily movement temporally changes the direction of CSF flow in humans [162] and in the zebrafish brain ventricular system [32]. Since many physiological parameters impact the bulk flow, and are difficult to measure with high spatial and temporal resolution, most studies focus on the cilia-mediated flow along the ventricular walls.…”