The choroid plexus (CP), which constitutes the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB), are vascularized structures located in the cerebroventricular system. The CP morphology consists of cuboidal epithelial cells surrounding a highly vascularized connective tissue with permeable capillaries. One of the primary functions of the CP is the production of cerebrospinal fluid. In addition to this vital role, emerging functions have been attributed to the immune and chemical surveillance of the central nervous system, brain development and repair, adult neurogenesis, and an extra-suprachiasmatic nucleus circadian clock. The involvement of CP and its interface in the pathophysiology of several diseases is now attracting more researchers willing to study and understand the CP.

Despite the several obstacles associated with implementing suitable protocols to study such a reduced size tissue, several new research tools have been successfully implemented. Some of the examples that have been applied include CP epithelial cell primary cultures, CP explants for expression analysis, gene silencing in CP epithelial cell line, transport studies across the BCSFB, and new models to recreate the BCSFB in vitro. This JoVE Methods Collection will focus on the recent tools and methods to study the CP functions that will contribute to understanding changes in clinical issues influenced by this brain tissue.