Physical Exercise Alters Egress Pathways for Intrinsic CSF Outflow: An Investigation Performed with Spin-labeling MR Imaging.

Purpose: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) clearance is essential for maintaining a healthy brain and cognition by removal of metabolic waste from the central nervous system. Physical exercise has been shown to improve human health; however, the effect of physical exercise on intrinsic CSF outflow in humans remains unexplored. The purpose of this study was to investigate intrinsic CSF outflow pathways and quantitative metrics of healthy individuals with active and sedentary lifestyles. In addition, the effect of exercise was investigated among the sedentary subjects before and after 3 weeks of physical activity.

Methods: This study was performed on 18 healthy adults with informed consent, using a clinical 3-Tesla MRI scanner. We classified participants into two groups based on reported time spent sitting per day (active group: < 7 hours sitting per day and sedentary group: ≥ 7 hours sitting per day). To elucidate the effect of exercise, sedentary individuals increased their activity to 3.5 hours for 3 weeks.

Results: We show that there are two intrinsic CSF egress pathways of the dura mater and lower parasagittal dura (PSD). The adults with an active lifestyle had greater intrinsic CSF outflow metrics than adults with a more sedentary lifestyle. However, after increased physical activity, the sedentary group showed improved CSF outflow metrics. This improvement was particularly notable at the lower PSD, where outflow metrics were highest among the active group.

Conclusion: Our findings describe the relationship between physical activity and intrinsic CSF outflow and show a potential selective outflow pathway with increasing physical activity in the lower PSD pathway, potentially from the perivascular space or cortical venous subpial space.