Solutes, but not cells, drain from the brain parenchyma along basement membranes of capillaries and arteries: significance for cerebral amyloid angiopathy and neuroimmunology

to define the pathways within the walls of capillaries and arteries for drainage of fluid and solutes out of the brain.

Fluorescent soluble tracers, dextran (3 kDa) and ovalbumin (40 kDa), and particulate fluospheres (0.02 microm and 1.0 microm in diameter) were injected into the corpus striatum of mice. Brains were examined from 5 min to 7 days by immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy.