Journal Article Review Epublish
PubMed: 42321396 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-026-10444-0
The electrofluidic brain as a basement layer for neural computation.
Commun Biol 9(1)
Authors: V Srinivasa Chakravarthy, Vigneswaran Chandrasekaran, Nagesh C Shanbhag
Affiliations
- Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
- Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, India.
- Meditech Foundation, Cali, Colombia.
Abstract
This article reappraises brain function by reconsidering the role of cerebral fluid dynamics in cognition. Tracing a lineage from early modern thinkers like Descartes-who invoked hydraulic metaphors and 'animal spirits'-to J.C. Bose's pioneering studies on electro-mechanical plant physiology, and culminating in contemporary findings on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), extracellular space (ECS), and neurovascular coupling, we reveal a forgotten yet vital computational substrate. We argue that alongside the well-studied digital operations of neural circuits exists a slower, analog, evolutionarily older layer of electrofluidic computation. This system-comprised of ionic diffusion, convective CSF flow, and vascular modulation-not only supports but dynamically shapes neural activity. The brain emerges as an electromechanical ecology of electric pulses and fluid flows, where the mind is both a pattern of neural activity and a choreography of fluid flows.
MeSH
Biological Science Disciplines, Brain