Ciliary motility disorders are known to cause hydrocephalus. The instantaneous velocity of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow is dominated by artery pulsation, and it remains unclear why ciliary dysfunction results in hydrocephalus. In this study, we investigated the effects of cilia-induced surface velocity on CSF flow using computational fluid dynamics. A geometric model of the human ventricles was constructed using medical imaging data. The CSF produced by the choroid plexus and cilia-induced surface velocity were given as the velocity boundary conditions at the ventricular walls. We developed healthy and reduced cilia motility models based on experimental data of cilia-induced velocity in healthy wild-type and Dpcd-knockout mice. The results indicate that there is almost no difference in intraventricular pressure between healthy and reduced cilia motility models. Additionally, it was found that newly produced CSF from the choroid plexus did not spread to the anterior and inferior horns of the lateral ventricles in the reduced cilia motility model. These findings suggest that a ciliary motility disorder could delay CSF exchange in the anterior and inferior horns of the lateral ventricles.
Keywords: cerebrospinal fluid; computational fluid dynamics; hydrocephalus; lattice Boltzmann method.