REVIEW article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Chronobiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1622236
Submitted to Frontiers in Physiology on May 2 nd , 2025 Circadian Influences on Central Nervous System Barriers and the Glymphatic System
Provisionally accepted
Brittany D. Elliott1
Claire O. Kisamore1
Randy J Nelson1,2
A. Courtney Devries1,2,3
William H Walker II1,2*- 1Department of Neuroscience, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, WV, United States
- 2West Virginia University Cancer Institute, Morgantown, WV, United States
- 3Department of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
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The central nervous system (CNS), comprising the brain and spinal cord, is fortified by complex barriers that protect the underlying organs and maintain homeostasis. The importance of proper fortification and homeostatic regulation provided by these systems has broad implications for many physiological processes and several pathological conditions are associated with their disruption. Recent studies support the notion that CNS barriers and fluids are regulated by circadian rhythms. Whereas reciprocal associations between the structural and functional integrity of neural barriers and disease states are well-established, the role of circadian rhythms in mediating these relationships remains unspecified. The goals of this review are to provide a general overview of three primary systems responsible for maintaining CNS homeostasis, namely the blood-brain barrier, blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, and glymphatic system, and to synthesize recent evidence highlighting the role of circadian rhythms as a critical regulator of CNS fluid and barrier function.
Keywords: circadian rhythms, Blood-Brain Barrier, Blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, Glymphatic system, CNS barriers
Received: 02 May 2025; Accepted: 06 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Elliott, Kisamore, Nelson, Devries and Walker II. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: William H Walker II, Department of Neuroscience, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, WV, United States
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