Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University Mannheim, Germany.
Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA.
Front Cell Neurosci. 2015 Mar 12;9:80. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2015.00080. eCollection 2015.
The choroid plexus (CP) is the source of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) production and location of the blood-CSF barrier (BCSFB), which is constituted by the epithelial cells of the CP. Several infectious pathogens including viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites cross the BCSFB to enter the central nervous system (CNS), ultimately leading to inflammatory infectious diseases like meningitis and meningoencephalitis. The CP responds to this challenge by the production of chemokines and cytokines as well as alterations of the barrier function of the BCSFB. During the course of CNS infectious disease host immune cells enter the CNS, eventually contributing to the cellular damage caused by the disease. Additional complications, which are in certain cases caused by choroid plexitis, can arise due to the response of the CP to the pathogens. In this review we will give an overview on the multiple functions of the CP during brain infections highlighting the CP as a multi-role player during infectious diseases of the CNS. In this context the importance of tools for investigation of these CP functions and a possible suitability of the CP as therapeutic target will be discussed.
脉络丛（CP）是脑脊液（CSF）产生的来源和血脑屏障（BCSFB）的位置，BCSFB 由 CP 的上皮细胞组成。几种感染病原体，包括病毒、细菌、真菌和寄生虫，通过 BCSFB 进入中枢神经系统（CNS），最终导致脑膜炎和脑膜脑炎等炎症性传染病。CP 通过产生趋化因子和细胞因子以及改变 BCSFB 的屏障功能来应对这一挑战。在中枢神经系统感染疾病过程中，免疫细胞进入中枢神经系统，最终导致疾病引起的细胞损伤。由于 CP 对病原体的反应，可能会出现其他并发症，在某些情况下是脉络丛炎引起的。在这篇综述中，我们将概述 CP 在脑感染中的多种功能，强调 CP 在中枢神经系统感染性疾病中的多角色作用。在这方面，将讨论研究这些 CP 功能的工具的重要性以及 CP 作为治疗靶点的可能适用性。
