Perivascular space and neurological disorders

Abstract

Perivascular space (PVS) is a crevice between two slices of cerebral pia maters, filled with tissue fluid, which be formed by pia mater emboling in the surrounding of cerebral perforating branch (excluding micrangium). Normal PVS (diameter < 2 mm) can be found in almost all healthy adults; however enlarged PVS (diameter > 2 mm) has correlation with neurological disorders probably. The article reviews the formation mechanism, imageology characteristics and the relation with neurological disorders of PVS, which is beneficial to the research of some neurological disorders etiopathogenesis and treatment.Keywords: perivascular space; mechanism; image; neurological disorders Perivascular space (PVS) is invaginations of pia mater, containing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and accompanying small arteries as they penetrate the surface of the brain (excluding capillary) [1][2] (Fig. 1). PVS was described in 1849 by Pestalozzi firstly. In 1851, Virchow, the German pathologist, put forward that PVS was a gap under outer membrane of artery in close to capillary. In 1859, the German anatomist, Robin, further confirmed that PVS was located in the outer membrane of cerebral vessel and was close. Therefore, PVS also was called the Virchow-Robin space or V-R cleft [1] . Many progresses have been made in research about PVS recently, but a lot of disputes about PVS still existed. This paper reviewed the PVS formation mechanism, imageology characteristics and the research progress related to neurological diseases. The PVS formation mechanismIt is still not clear about how PVS be formed. Previously, some scholars thought that PVS might have something to do with inborn heteroplasia, blood vessel degradation abnormality, infection, vasculitis, and demyelination, etc., that was to say, some diseases resulted in the PVS forming. But these theories could not be verified or negated up to now [1] . Recent researches tended to stand that PVS was a normal anatomical structure of health body. Just when PVS expansion exceeded certain degree and showed corresponding clinical symptoms, PVS might be considered as the pathology change [4][5] .Most scholars divided PVS into three classes according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): I class: diameter < 2 mm; [3]