Date of Completion

Spring 5-8-2024

Thesis Advisor(s)

Joanne Conover

Honors Major

Biological Sciences

Disciplines

Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities | Developmental Biology | Developmental Neuroscience | Immune System Diseases | Immunopathology | Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Abstract

Hydrocephalus is characterized by the abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the brain ventricles. In post-infectious hydrocephalus (PIH) cases, the condition presents challenges in understanding the immune response. PIH is a complex condition, often persisting after the initial infection is treated and thus requiring a deeper understanding of the immune mechanisms involved in its development. This thesis will explore the immunopathogenesis of PIH, elucidating the relationship between the immune response and neurological complications that would succeed infection. The immune response of PIH includes a series of events, beginning with the activation of immune cells and finishing with the release of inflammatory mediators and molecular signaling pathways. Resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), microglia and astrocytes, are important in producing neuroinflammation and contributing to the pathology of PIH. Invading immune cells (T-cells and B-cells), as well as cytokines and chemokines, contribute to inflammation within the brain, worsening impairment of CSF flow and disrupting the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Understanding the progression of infectious disease in a stem cell niche and the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) is important for conceptualizing the regulatory components of the immune response and ventricular stability. By having a strong foundation of the immunopathogenesis of PIH, of not only its etiology but the importance of limiting neuroinflammation and improving immune responses to infection, allows for a deeper understanding of PIH development.

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