In response to “Is solute movement within the extracellular spaces of brain gray matter brought about primarily by diffusion or flow?”

Abstract

In our work, “Analysis of Convective and Diffusive Transport in the Brain Interstitium”, published in this journal (2019, 16:6), we estimate the interstitial superficial velocity by comparison of transport model simulations to published experimental Real-Time Iontophoresis (RTI) data. In the Discussion section, we calculate a value for perfusion rate, or volumetric flow rate per unit mass of tissue, from these fundamental results of superficial velocity. Drs. Hladky and Barrand have proposed an alternative method for choosing the surface area per volume used to calculate perfusion rate from superficial velocity, using our model domain. Their method seems reasonable to us, as does ours. Upon reflection, a range of volumetric flow per unit mass values should have been reported in our paper, 1–40 μL/min-g. The value calculated using Drs. Hladky and Barrand surface area is a likely upper-bound on this range and the value in the paper is a low estimate at the bottom of the range. We are confident in the estimates of interstitial velocity reported in our article, using the assumptions of the model. Peclet (Pe) numbers, which compare convective and diffusive transport rates for different molecules, were calculated using the superficial velocity estimates; and we continue to believe these values are correct along with all other major results and conclusions presented in the paper.