Modeling interstitial fluid flow induced by traveling waves in the brain

Interstitial fluid (ISF), located in the spaces between the cells in the brain cortex, can be driven by traveling ionic waves that induce osmotic cellular swelling, although the precise mechanism of the coupling is not fully understood. Using volume-averaged constitutive equations, a modified Darcy's law for swelling-porous media is developed to fundamentally understand how traveling waves in the brain during different phases of sleep (slow waves) and depolarization waves during acute conditions like stroke, migraine, brain injury, and seizures, drive cortical ISF flow. The research can provide fundamental insights into (1) how traveling wave properties in healthy and diseased brains alter ISF flow physics and (2) how ISF flow can be therapeutically engineered during neurological disorders.