Implication of structure and functional changes of aging choroid plexus in neural stem cells regulation and brain functions

Neural stem cells in the ventricular zone of the adult brain extend their primary cilia to the lateral ventricles and are directly exposed to cerebrospinal fluid that is produced from arterial blood by the choroid plexus resides in the lateral, third, and fourth ventricles. We found that choroid plexus epithelial cells express numerous cytokines and growth factors involved in neural stem cells regulation. By performing RNA-seq analyses, we are now working on how choroid plexus changes their gene expression profiles during the aging process. Our goal is demonstrating choroid plexus ameliorates the age-dependent decrease in neural stem cell proliferation which contributes to the onset of dementia or Alzheimer disease.