The choroid plexus
located in the brain ventricle is marked with red in the brain image.
The volume of the
choroid plexus was measured in this work. The dots in the graph show
the volume of the
choroid plexus in patients with CRPS (on the left) and healthy control
subjects (on the
right). Each point corresponds to a single person.
(September 22, 2015) An
observation by Finnish researchers shows that the central nervous system plays
an important role in complex regional pain syndrome.
Aalto University neuroscientists, in collaboration with
researchers at Helsinki University Hospital and Harvard Medical School, have
found a novel connection between the size of the choroid plexus in the brain
and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). The findings were recently published
in the Scientific Reports online journal.
'When studying magnetic resonance images of the brains of
patients suffering from CRPS, we noticed that the choroid plexus was nearly
one-fifth larger in patients than in healthy control subjects,' says
Postdoctoral Researcher Guangyu Zhou from Aalto University Department of
Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, who analysed the images.
Located in the walls of the brain ventricles, the choroid
plexus is best known for producing cerebrospinal fluid, which forms a
protective mechanical cushion and immunological buffer for the brain. It also controls the passage of many
substances from the blood into the cerebrospinal fluid, brain, and spinal cord.
'However, in clinical neuroscience, the functions of choroid
plexus beyond cerebrospinal fluid generation have been largely neglected; for
example, the size of the choroid plexus is not quantified in routine brain
scans,' explains Professor, Academician Riitta Hari, who was in charge of the
research.
'As the choroid plexus is known to mediate the interaction
between inflammation in the periphery of the body and in the brain, it is an
interesting and important target for future research of chronic pain and CRPS
in particular,' continues Hari.