Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)

Fluid in the ventricles and subarachnoid spaces produced by the choroid plexus.  Approximately 500 cc daily produced.

The volume of the cerebrospinal fluid (also known as: "CSF") is an important contributor (with the arterial blood volume) to total intracranial pressure according to the Monro Kellie model of intracranial pressure dynamics.

Composition

The cerebrospinal fluid is mostly water. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is made from the blood. Special cells that make up the walls of some collections of arteries in the brain called the choroid plexus filter the blood. Red, white, and platelet cells are too big to pass through the filter. So are most of the proteins (immunoglobulins, albumin) and most drugs, that circulate through the blood. The filtered CSF has no cells to give it color or to make it opaque so it is colorless and transparent. Ions and glucose are small enough to pass through the filter that makes CSF but their concentrations in blood and CSF are not equal because of special regulatory channels and transport mechanisms.

Production

Production: filtration through the choroid plexus

Circulation

Infection

Pressure

Drainage:  drainage of cerebrospinal fluid is one way of decreasing intracranial pressure according to the Monro Kellie model of intracranial pressure.

Shunt

          Ventriculostomy

          Ventricolperitoneal shunt

Cerebrospinal fluid - pathophysiology

table: CSF analysis parameters and normal values

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