In the absence of conventional lymphatics, drainage of interstitial fluid and solutes from the brain parenchyma to cervical lymph nodes is along basement membranes in the walls of cerebral capillaries and tunica media of arteries. Perivascular pathways are also involved in the entry of CSF into the brain by the convective influx/ glymphatic system. Cerebral arterial basement membranes form the pathways by which fluid passes into and out of the brain with different basement membrane layers involved. The significance of these findings for neuroimmunology, Alzheimer’s disease, drug delivery to the brain and the concept of the Virchow–Robin space will be discussed.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Roxana Carare qualified in Medicine in Bucharest in 1994. During her basic clinical training, she became fascinated by anatomy and completed her PhD in neuropathology in 2006, in the University of Southampton, UK. The main international recognition for Roxana Carare has come from the interdisciplinary research she leads, relevant to the causes and new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, with over 165 peer reviewed publications in the field. She led the discovery of the intramural periarterial drainage system for proteins and fluid from the brain that fails in ageing leading to Alzheimer’s disease and her group now focusses on harnessing this system for efficient therapies and early biomarkers for age related neurodegenerative diseases. Roxana is a member of the UK Medical Research Council Dementia Platform UK Vascular Experimental Medicine committee and the UK government advisory committee for the effects of pollution on the brain, has served as the only European member of the American NIH strategy committee for funding in dementia. Roxana has won prestigious awards, including a Dementia Research Leader award from Alzheimer’s Society UK. Roxana has served as Co-Chair for The International Alliance of Women Alzheimer’s Researchers in Alzheimer’s Association, she is Chair of the Vascular Professional Interest Area of Alzheimer’s Association, co-led the Scientific Committee for Vas-Cog, Secretary of the British Neuropathological Society, member of the scientific committee of the Rainwater Foundation, serves as an expert for several international research funding boards. Roxana is a Visiting Professor in the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology Targu Mures- Romania where she has co-founded the British-Romanian Academic Institute of Neuroscience.